The Rāmāyaṇa is a living epic that continues to shape individuals, families, communities, and nations. Accepted across all sects of India—including Jain, Sikh, Vanavasi traditions—it has remained deeply rooted in everyday life through stories, songs, rituals, and art. From royal courts to villages and forests, the Rāmāyaṇa has been a shared cultural inheritance, guiding society in living with strength, harmony, and compassion.
Epic Footprint brings out these many facets of the Rāmāyaṇa by tracing its travel across religions, regions, languages, and centuries. The book explores its expression through literature, dance, drama, folk traditions, crafts, sculptures, textiles, and visual arts, revealing how the epic adapted to diverse cultures while preserving its core values.
Through this journey across geography and time, Deepali Patwadkar shows how the Rāmāyaṇa continues to inspire a powerful life, a loving family, and a humane society. Epic Footprint invites readers to rediscover the epic as a timeless, living tradition.
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Deepali Patwadkar
Deepali Patwadkar is an author, artist, and researcher with a deep passion for Indian culture, history, and philosophy. Known for bringing Indic traditions alive for contemporary audiences, she also serves as an adjunct faculty member in Indian Knowledge Systems and Epic Studies.
Her literary works include Rajmata Kunti: The Champion of RajDharma, Ahilyabai Holkar: The Guardian of Indic Civilization, and The Epic Footprint: Ramayana Beyond Borders. She has co-authored Sugriva’s Atlas with Nilesh Oak, a work that explores the geographical and civilizational dimensions of the Rāmāyana. Her other notable works include Deshvideshātil Bhāratiya Sanskrutichi Swastichinhe and Chitra Dnyaneshwari: Karma Yoga.
As an artist, her Dnyaneshwari-inspired paintings have been exhibited at the Bal Gandharva Gallery and other prominent venues in Pune. Her research papers on Indian culture, the Rāmāyana, and the Mahābhārata have been published in esteemed peer-reviewed journals. She also writes regularly for leading newspapers and magazines such as Maharashtra Times, Sakal, Mumbai Tarun Bharat, Saptahik Vivek, Prasad, and News Bharati, making scholarship accessible to a wider readership.
A keen stargazer and a Sunday gardener, Deepali Patwadkar lives in Pune with her husband and daughter.
