Preeta Chag

Published by Harper Collins India

First of all, hats off to Vikrant Pande and Neelesh Kulkarni to come with the ingenuous idea of tracing the Rama journey  and then coming up with this book.

This book traces the journey of Rama when he enters into exile, Sita’s abduction, his war with Ravana, back to Ayodhya and then his ultimate return to his heavenly abode. 

The writers follow Ram’s jouney from Ayodhya to the Dandakaranya forest and Panchavati (near Nashik) and on to Kishkindhya (close to Hampi), Rameshwaram and Sri Lanka.

Travelling the story, temple to temple, village to village,  city to city,  and country to country, the book is an interesting travelogue featuring mythology amidst the present day milieu.

The books effortlessly switches between recorded epic tales and present  day narrative  lending the book an amazing, unique flavour.

Local fables which sometimes clash with known and recorded versions of epic are the interesting and intriguing points of the book such as ‘maybe there never was a lakshman rekha’ or ‘ shabari had never tasted berries before offering them to Lord Rama.’

As in every travelogue, the writers meet a mix of people along their sojourn- the quirky,  clever present. …. such as the driver who claims never to know anything, priests waiting for a generous tip before commencing on story telling. And tales of convictions and allegiance…… educated men devoting themselves to the temple or the the surprising  case of a family spending their funds on maintaining the manwari temple in Sri Lanka..despite not being allowed to enter the temple as they are  not  Brahmins.

However, I confess to have only a basic knowledge of the story of Ramayana,  and so  it became difficult  (though only momentarily)  to connect when I picked up the book next day to read.

But this book is a real must-for- all….. for people like  me who came to know new tales of the Ramayana and for those who are familiar and have always wondered if those places existed, if those tales were true, if the heavens had indeed descended upon the earth.