AN ILLUSTRATION TO A RAMAYANA SERIES: RAMA, SITA AND LAKSHMANA IN THEIR FOREST ABODE
Kangra, Pahari Hills, Northern India, first half 19th century

Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, the vertical composition depicting the three main characters of the Ramayana epic, Rama, his wife Sita and his brother Lakshmana after being exiled from Ayodhya due to Kaikeyi's, Rama's stepmother, plotting, the three characters portrayed in their forest abode, leading a simple life, clad in foliage and what nature provides, Sita dressed in tiger skin emphasising her condition of an exiled hermit, Rama and Lakshmana with their bows, arrows and quivers, symbols of their true nature as heroes, a tray of fresh fruit in front of Rama and in the foreground a tranquil lotus pond, a symbol of purity and rebirth in Indian culture, the scene set within typical Kangra borders with a polychrome-painted floral band on black and bright red outer frame, the recto backed with several fly-leaves marked in black ink Persian script and presenting Hindu diagrams and yantras, 30cm x 24.7cm.