Walking the Path of Lord Rama

This North-to-South civilizational journey follows the Ramayana as narrative geography, tracing how epic memory becomes lived pilgrimage infrastructure across India.

From Ayodhya and Chitrakoot to Hampi and Rameshwaram, students examine how story, movement, devotion, performance, and sacred landscapes shape regional identity and cultural continuity.

The program treats the Ramayana not simply as literature, but as public culture,visible in pilgrimage circuits, Ramlila performances, temple institutions, and civic planning.

Using place-based inquiry, students explore how epic narrative travels across geography, language, and political eras, forming a dynamic cultural system that continues to influence contemporary India.

Students will:

Analyze epic narrative as lived public culture rather than static text.
Study pilgrimage circuits as systems of economy, governance, and infrastructure.
Practice narrative ethics, balancing belief, tradition, textual history, and material evidence in academic framing.
Examine how performance traditions such as Ramlila animate collective memory.
Ask compelling questions such as:
- How does an epic shape real-world geography?
- When does narrative become infrastructure?
- How do regions reinterpret the same story differently?
Produce a structured “Rama Trail” narrative map dossier integrating site observation, pilgrimage flow mapping, and reflective synthesis.