The Ramayana in Which Rama Kills Nobody

It begins by saying the story you know is not true.

An objection, not a variant

The Paumacariya of Vimalasuri is the oldest Jain Ramayana, composed in Prakrit, generally dated to around the fourth or fifth century CE, and among the earliest surviving retellings of the story in any language.

It does not present itself as an alternative telling. It opens as a correction.

Vimalasuri's frame is a disciple asking a teacher about the Rama story, and reporting the version in circulation, and objecting that it is full of things that cannot be so. Rakshasas who eat human flesh. Monkeys who build bridges and defeat armies. A Ravana with ten heads.

And the answer given is that the popular account is the work of poets who did not know better, and that here is what actually happened.

That is an unusual place for a retelling to start, and it sets the terms for everything after.