The Ramayana: Rama's Exile to Lanka

King Dasharatha is about to crown his eldest son when his wife Kaikeyi claims two boons he once promised her: her own son Bharata must rule, and Rama must go into the forest for fourteen years. Rama accepts without protest, and the city weeps as he leaves with Sita and Lakshmana; the old king dies of grief. Ayodhya, on the Sarayu river, is revered by many Hindus as Rama's birthplace. The Ram Mandir there was consecrated in January 2024 on the long-disputed site of the Babri mosque, which was demolished in 1992; India's Supreme Court awarded the land for a temple in 2019.

Location precision: Traditional identification; the pin marks the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.

Visitor guidance: Pilgrims also bathe at Ram ki Paidi, the ghats on the Sarayu, which are lit with hundreds of thousands of lamps at Diwali.

The exiles build a hut in the hills of Chitrakoot. Bharata, horrified at what his mother has done, follows them there with the army and the royal household and begs Rama to come home and take the throne. Rama refuses to break his father's word. Bharata takes his brother's sandals instead, and back home he places them on the throne and rules in Rama's name. Chitrakoot, on the Mandakini river, is believed to be where Rama spent most of his exile; pilgrims bathe at Ramghat, the main riverfront.

Location precision: Traditional identification; the pin marks Ramghat on the Mandakini.

Visitor guidance: Chitrakoot straddles the border of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh; Ramghat is the busiest of its riverside ghats.

Deep in the forest, the exiles live at Panchavati on the Godavari. Ravana's sister Surpanakha tries to seduce Rama and attacks Sita, and Lakshmana cuts off her nose. To take revenge, Ravana sends a demon disguised as a golden deer; Rama chases it, Lakshmana follows, and Ravana carries Sita away in his flying chariot. Nashik holds the tradition, and its Panchavati quarter is full of it: Sita Gufa, a small cave said to be where Sita stayed, and the Kalaram temple, named for its black image of Rama.

Location precision: Traditional identification; the pin marks Sita Gufa in Panchavati, Nashik.

Visitor guidance: Sita Gufa and the Kalaram temple are a few minutes' walk apart in Panchavati, near the Godavari ghats.

Searching for Sita, the brothers reach Kishkindha, the kingdom of the vanaras. There Rama meets Hanuman and makes an alliance with Sugriva, the exiled vanara prince: Rama kills Sugriva's brother Vali, and in return Sugriva sends search parties in every direction. Tradition places Kishkindha in the boulder-strewn country around Hampi on the Tungabhadra, later the capital of the Vijayanagara empire. Anjanadri Hill across the river is honoured as Hanuman's birthplace, with a temple on its summit.

Location precision: Traditional identification; the pin marks Anjanadri Hill near Hampi.

Visitor guidance: About 575 steps lead to the Hanuman temple on Anjanadri; the climb is best at sunrise or sunset, with views over the Hampi ruins.

Hanuman leaps across the sea, finds Sita and brings word back, and the army marches to the southern shore. According to temple tradition, Rama worshipped Shiva here before the crossing, and the lingam of the Ramanathaswamy Temple is the one he set up. It is one of Hinduism's four Char Dham pilgrimage sites. The temple is famous for the longest corridors of any Hindu temple, lined with about 1,212 pillars, and for its 22 holy wells and tanks, said to stand for the 22 arrows in Rama's quiver.

Location precision: Traditional identification; the episode belongs to later versions of the story, not Valmiki's text.

Visitor guidance: Many pilgrims bathe at each of the 22 wells in turn before worship; Dhanushkodi is about 20 km further down the island.

The sea god tells Rama how to cross, and the vanara Nala leads the army in building a causeway of rocks and trees all the way to Lanka. Between Dhanushkodi, at the tip of Rameswaram island, and Mannar Island in Sri Lanka runs a real chain of limestone shoals, 48 km long, called Rama Setu or Adam's Bridge. Geologists see the remains of an old land link; the sea over it is rarely more than a metre deep. Dhanushkodi itself has been a ghost town since a cyclone destroyed it in 1964.

Location precision: The shoals are natural; their link to the epic's bridge is a matter of tradition. The pin marks Dhanushkodi.

Visitor guidance: A road, completed in 2016, now runs out to the ruins of Dhanushkodi and the tip of the island.

In Lanka, Ravana keeps Sita in the Ashoka grove, guarded by demon women, and she refuses him again and again. Hanuman finds her there and gives her Rama's ring; captured, he sets the city on fire with his burning tail. After the war Rama kills Ravana, and the couple return to Ayodhya, a homecoming many Hindus celebrate at Diwali. In Sri Lanka's hill country, the Seetha Amman Temple at Seetha Eliya marks where tradition places the grove, beside a stream where Sita is said to have bathed.

Location precision: Traditional identification; the pin marks the Seetha Amman Temple near Nuwara Eliya.

Visitor guidance: The temple is on the Nuwara Eliya–Badulla road, a short walk from the Hakgala Botanical Garden.