In The Footsteps Of Rama : Travels with the Ramayana

By Vikrant Pande| Neelesh Kulkarni

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About the book

Vikrant Pande and Neelesh Kulkarni’s quest to retrace the trail 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 might be. Curious about the places mentioned in the Ramayana, they set off on a journey of their own, following Rama’s route from Ayodhya to the Dandakaranya forest and Panchavati (near Nashik) and on to Kishkindhya (close to Hampi), Rameshwaram 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 Ramayana and the moral framework that binds them together still speaks to the people who live in the land across which Rama, Sita and Lakshman made their journey.

For the armchair traveller as well as the enthusiast for epic tales, this is a wonderful book with which to revisit the world of the Ramayana.

Pages: 272

Available in:

Language: English

Vikrant Pande

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. His book on the history of State Bank of India The SBI Story: Two Centuries of Banking (2021) has been received well. He has translated and written original pieces for Storytel, an audio book company. Vikrant is a graduate of IIM Bangalore, and a full-time writer now.

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Neelesh Kulkarni

Neelesh Kulkarni is a management graduate from the Faculty of Management, Delhi University, who quit the corporate world in 1985 to start his own company, which he still runs. 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.

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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