Pavan K. Varma and Philip Lutgendorf in conversation with Harish Trivedi

The epic poem, the Ramcharitmanas, was composed in the 16th century in Awadhi by Goswami Tulsidas and has retained its religious and literary primacy through orality, ritual and literature. Writer, politician and former diplomat Pavan K. Varma’s work includes the best-selling Adi Shankaracharya: Hinduism’s Greatest Thinker and recently The Greatest Ode to Lord Ram: Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas. Academic and cultural historian Philip Lutgendorf has worked extensively with the Ramcharitmanas and his definitive English translation published by the Murty Classical Library of India runs into seven volumes. In conversation with fellow scholar, academic and translator Harish Trivedi, they discuss the impact and outreach of this classic text, which has been hailed as “the living sum of Indian culture.”