HarperCollins is delighted to announce: In the Footsteps of Rama Travels with the Ramayana By Vikrant Pande & Neelesh Kulkarni

‘In this book, Vikrant and Neelesh set out to cover a journey that many Indians traverse in their imagination. The myriad shrines, communities and customs remember the footsteps of a god-hero, his dutiful wife and his loyal younger brother. The different versions of the Ramayana may not be exactly the same – ranging from Valmiki’s classical Sanskrit to the folk versions passed down from generations of grandmothers – but Vikrant and Neelesh find that the ancient story of love and adventure continues to inspire a civilization. I hope to take this journey one day, and perhaps I too will find another version.’

– Sanjeev Sanyal

‘“Ramayana” means Rama’s progress, and can also be translated as “Rama’s journey”. If Rama had a journey, it should be possible to follow his trail and trace his footsteps even today. Books, and papers, have been written on the Ramayana geography. Vikrant Pande and Neelesh Kulkarni’s book is refreshing because it is so different. They set out to travel and document local stories. In the process, Rama’s footsteps come alive, not as some bygone history, but as living legacy.’  

– Bibek Debroy

‘Many believe that long before modern nation states came into existence, the footsteps of pilgrims – and before them the protagonists of the great Indian epics – had, in crisscrossing the subcontinent, cemented an idea of India. In tracing the sacred geography of the Ramayana, all the way from Ayodhya to Lanka, Vikrant Pande and Neelesh Kulkarni have written a book that not only brings this alive but also fills a long-standing gap. In the Footsteps of Rama draws one instantly into its folds and is likely to be savoured by the faithful and the agnostic alike. This is travel writing of the best kind.’

– Devapriya Roy and Saurav Jha

Vikrant Pande and Neelesh Kulkarni’s quest to retrace the route of Rama’s fabled travels during his years in exile began with their trying to locate Chitrakoot on the map—and realizing that they had little idea where it was. Curious about the places mentioned in the Ramayana, they set off on a voyage of their own, following in Rama’s footsteps, from Ayodhya to the Dandakaranya forest and Panchavati (near Nashik), and on to Kishkindha (close to Hampi), Rameswaram and Sri Lanka.

Along the way they would discover how closely the narrative of the Ramayana is linked to local folklore, and how the stories of the epic and the moral framework that binds them together still speak to the people who live in the land across which Rama, Sita and Lakshmana made their journey.

For the armchair traveller as well as those interested in India’s cultural history, this is a wonderful book with which to revisit the world of the Ramayana.

‘And the end of all our exploring, will be to arrive where we started and to know the place for the first time’.

‘Reading the various Ramayanas did not give me a sense of the places Rama stayed in during his fourteen years of vanvaas. I wanted to visit some of the places myself to visualize what must have happened there thousands of years ago. The quest led to our uncovering stories which had survived for millennia, and were fascinating. The book will, I hope, also make readers curious to visit some of these fascinating places and experience them first-hand.’

—Vikrant Pande

‘The idea for this book came to us over coffee, and took over our lives completely—as we realized we would actually be walking a path billions of people over thousands of years have held in awe and reverence. The learnings from our journey have been many, but the basic lesson has been rediscovering the value of faith which shone through every sentence uttered by the people we met. We marvelled at how the Ramayana was assimilated into myriad cultures and yet managed to retain its basic message. Our journey grew on us and changed us in ways we have not yet fully discovered.’

—Neelesh Kulkarni

‘The Ramayana, one of our great epics, is also at one level the story of an incredible journey: from Ayodhya, through northern, central, western and southern India on to the island of Lanka —and back. Inspired by the fascinating stories of Rama, Sita and Lakshmana’s travels during their years of exile, Vikrant and Neelesh set off on an incredible journey of their own, retracing Rama’s travel route. The result is this wonderful book that at once revisits the world of the Ramayana and rediscovers its relevance in the context of people’s lives today. In the Footsteps of Rama is an absolute delight for the armchair traveller—especially in these times when restrictions on travel don’t allow us to set out on a quest across India like Vikrant and Neelesh did. But reading about their journey is almost equally scintillating.’

—Udayan Mitra, Publisher- Literary, HarperCollins

About the Authors:

 Vikrant Pande has translated twelve Marathi bestsellers into English. His translation of Girish Kuber’s book Tatayan (The Tatas: How a Family Built a Business and a Nation) won the prestigious Gaja Capital Best Business Book award in 2019. A graduate of IIM Bangalore, Vikrant is a full-time writer now.

Neelesh Kulkarni is an entrepreneur who has been running his own company for over thirty-five years. He is a theatre and voiceover artist with over fifty years of experience, an avid reader and traveller, a poet, a cricket commentator, and a public speaking coach. He lives in Delhi with his artist wife.

 About HarperCollins Publishers India:

HarperCollins Publishers India is a subsidiary of HarperCollins Publishers. HarperCollins India publishes some of the finest writers from the Indian subcontinent and around the world, publishing approximately 200 new books every year, with a print and digital catalogue of more than 2,000 titles across 10 imprints. Its authors have won almost every major literary award including the Man Booker Prize, JCB Prize, DSC Prize, New India Foundation Award, Atta Galatta Prize, Shakti Bhatt Prize, Gourmand Cookbook Award, Publishing Next Award, Tata Literature Live! Award, Gaja Capital Business Book Prize, BICW Award, Sushila Devi Award, Prabha Khaitan Woman’s Voice Award, Sahitya Akademi Award and Crossword Book Award. HarperCollins India has been awarded the Publisher of the Year Award three times: at Publishing Next in 2015, and at Tata Literature Live! in 2016 and 2018. HarperCollins India also represents some of the finest publishers in the world including Egmont, Oneworld, Harvard University Press, Bonnier Zaffre, Usborne, Dover and Lonely Planet.

For more information please write to

jaseya.fazili@harpercollins.co.in