Mapping The Symbolism Of Travel In Love Stories From Indian Mythology

They didn’t just fall in love—they travelled through fire, forests, and oceans for it. Long before destination weddings and honeymoon itineraries, Indian mythology offered a more visceral definition of romance. Love, in those epics, didn’t bloom in five-star suites or curated sunsets. It was discovered on the road—in hardship, in exile, through trials of the spirit. It didn’t arrive fully formed; it was earned.

Fast-forward to today, when weddings are as much about hashtags as they are about lifelong vows, it’s easy to forget that our cultural roots speak of love that travels, not for leisure but for transformation.

Take Sita and Rama. Their love was not a palace romance; it was forged in exile. Fourteen years in the forest — not a vacation, not a honeymoon, but a brutal journey that tested devotion and endurance. And yet, that was where love crystallised —beyond comfort, beyond expectation. Today, couples rush for their honeymoons seeking something similar— a space outside time, where the usual rules don’t apply and love can be stripped to its essence. But how many couples remember the deeper symbolism encoded in our ancestral epics? Sita follows Rama into the forest, not out of submission, but because love does not remain behind when duty calls. It travels.

We are staging ceremonies with all the grandiosity of a divine tale, but we often miss the fundamental truth: in Indian mythology, love travels to become worthy.

Think of Rama winning Sita’s hand at her swayamvar, not just by arriving, but by earning his place through impossible skill. Today’s wedding processions — grooms arriving on horses, in vintage cars, even helicopters — are echoes of that ancient spectacle. They say: I have journeyed. I have arrived. I am worthy. But let’s not romanticise blindly. Unlike today, in Indian mythology, travel is not about flaunting; it is about perseverance and commitment.

Remember Savitri. Her husband Satyavan, was destined to die. Yet, she followed Yama, the god of death, across the daunting threshold of the afterlife. In the end, she didn’t just reclaim her beloved; she rewrote destiny. Her journey wasn’t just one of distance, but of immense depth — a journey through the very layers of existence. It reminds us that love must toil, and it must move—across thresholds, borders, and fears.

In our heritage, it is not the mandap under a starry European sky or the dance by palace lakes that carries meaning. It is the reason we move. Just as Parvati left her royal home in spiritual pursuit of Shiva, there is something essential in leaving behind the familiar to honour what love demands. Travel in the Indian love story is not about indulgence — it is about elevation. The soul becomes worthy through movement. It doesn’t just fall in love, it ascends toward it. But through it, love becomes legend. The destination is never the point. It’s what happens along the way — the transformation of lovers into something sacred.

So, let today’s couples channel not just Maharani Gayatri Devi and Grace Kelly’s style but Sita’s resolve, Savitri’s audacity, and Parvati’s defiance. Let their travels, be they to Jaipur or Monaco, be more than logistics. Let them be mythic movements of the soul. Because love that does not move us, does not improve us, is not love worth writing epics about. Because ultimately, the greatest luxury lies not in the venue where you tie the knot, but in a union that subtly uplifts your soul to ethereal height.

This story appears in Manifest India’s Issue 03. Subscribe here for more stories like this.