12 Indian Paintings
Tracing Rama’s Footsteps Through Lanka’s Landscape by Rita Dixit The Ramayana, or Rama’s Journey, is India’s first great Sanskrit poem, composed by the Indian sage Valmiki in 400 AD, who based his epic work on stories, songs and prayers connected to Rama and Sita. Whilst the Ramayana’s origins are in Hinduism, it has since been retold in many different languages and art forms and is celebrated in cultures spanning South and Southeast Asia. The epic tells the journey – both geographic and spiritual – of the dutiful Lord Rama, Prince of Ayodhya. Rama was exiled from his father’s kingdom for 14 years along with his wife Sita and brother Laxmana. His beloved Sita is later abducted by Ravana, the demon king of the island of Lanka – an act that leads to war, the burning of the capital city of Lankapura, and the besieging of Ravana’s fabled island fortress. Though an ancient story, rooted in universal themes such as love, valour, duty and human frailty, the Ramayana lives on in our present through the arts, architecture, and historic lore and legend. In Sri Lanka, widely identified as Valmiki’s mythical Lanka, the epic continues to inspire the faith of millions of people on the island and beyond. Parts of the island are steeped in the Ramayana – it lives on in people’s beliefs, their religious practices, and the landscape itself. This article considers the places and spaces that celebrate the Ramayana as a living tradition with some examples of Indian miniatures as a visual guide, which reflect the creative skill and imagination of the artist in capturing these episodes, as well as the landscape, flora and fauna, and symbolism of the Ramayana. None of the early Ramayana versions, or the Mahabharata
Sita Shies Away from Hanuman, Believing He is Ravana in Disguise, Ramayana, 1594, The David Collection, Copenhagen. Sita is initially fearful of Hanuman, but once she realises who is he, she gifts him a jewel to take back to her husband
Sri Lanka is widely identified with the epic story of the Ramayana (another Hindu text which mentions Lanka), provide geographical certainty that Lankapura was actually Sri Lanka and the debate amongst scholars remains polarised. In Sri Lanka, meanwhile, there has been a nationalist and cultural revival of interest in the Ramayana story – and in particular – Ravana. Over the last decade, Ravana has become something of a cult hero and
devotional figure among Sinhalese Buddhists, who claim that he is a distant ancestor and founder of the island’s legendary founding monarchy. The Ramayana trail for tourists and pilgrims encourages the island’s association with the epic, promoting famous religious Buddhist and Hindu sites that mark significant episodes in the story, such as the place where Sita was kept following her capture; the route taken across the ocean by Rama aided by the Monkey God Hanuman; and the site of the final battle where Ravana is killed. Some of the finest examples of Indian miniature manuscripts bring to life what is essentially an oral tale, with exquisite portrayals of an artistically imagined landscape surrounded by the ocean with mountains and rocky crags, inhabited by bears, monkeys, and demons. The scriptures tell us that Kubera, the God of Wealth, once ruled Lanka, but was overthrown by his demon half-brother Ravana, who had built a ‘City of Gods’, as well as an impenetrable fortress made of gold and precious gems that was surrounded by a system of treacherous moats and trenches. Among the finest works depicting this epic are the Imperial Ramayana, translated into Persian and painted for the Mughal emperor Akbar, circa 1591, that is now held in the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum in Jaipur; and the British Library’s Mewar Ramayana painted for the Maharana Jagat Singh, in the mid-17th century. Sita was abducted from Panchavati Forest (Maharashtra, India) and flown by Ravana to Wariyapola, northwestern Sri Lanka, in his ‘miraculous air chariot’ (Pushpak Vimana), described as resembling a peacock in flight. However, for Sri Lankans, Ravana was not a demon Hanuman returns the mountain with the four healing plants to the Himalayas, by Abd al-Rahim, created 1597-1605, folio from The Freer Ramayana, vol 2, folio 236, ink, opaque watercolour and gold on paper, 15.2 x 27.5 cm. Gift of Charles Lang Freer, National Museum of Asian Art, Washington DC © Smithsonian Institution
Lord Rama Victorious, Kangra or Guler, circa, 1800, opaque pigments with gold on paper, 37.5 x 29 cm. Courtesy of Rita Dixit Indian Miniatures. This painting captures the joyous fanfare in the heavens above, as Rama, holding the cosmic arrow stands triumphant in Indra’s chariot
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Sita in the Garden of Lanka, from the Ramayana epic of Valmiki, circa 1725, Guler, opaque watercolour and gold on paper, 55.5 x 79 cm. Gift of George P Bickford, Cleveland Museum of Art. King Ravana, the villain of the epic Ramayana, has 10 heads and 20 arms and lives on the golden island of Lanka. He is shown twice in this painting: enthroned with demon guards at left and approaching the heroine Sita at right, whom he has abducted and imprisoned. Guarded by demonesses, Sita sits steadfast in her refusal to become his queen and to remain faithful to her husband Rama
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