Author(s): Martin Buckley

Travel

"The Ramayana" - the Journey of Rama - is India's best-loved book, an inspiration to school-children, monks and moviemakers, yet it is virtually unknown in the Western world. The story of Rama, an exiled prince searching savage jungles for his kidnapped wife, it combines aspects of Heart of Darkness with The Odyssey but it has become a flashpoint for Indian politics, and disputes surrounding its locations have claimed an estimated 13,000 lives since 1992. When Martin Buckley first encountered the "Ramayana" twenty-five-years ago, it became a guide to the complexities of Indian life and in "An Indian Odyssey" he fulfils a dream - to retrace the route of Rama from his birthplace in north India to the climax of his confrontation with Evil in Sri Lanka. The journey, by motorbike, microlight, bus and train, was sometimes perilous but the resulting book is a remarkable travel diary and a thought-provoking account of the story of India.