![Rama and Lakshmana Fighting Ravana, from a Dashavatara (Ten Incarnations [of Vishnu]) series, c. 1765](/thumbs/cma/1953.357/1953.357_web.jpg)
Window mode follows your eyes with your camera, in this browser only: no picture or position leaves your device.
Rama and Lakshmana Fighting Ravana, from a Dashavatara (Ten Incarnations [of Vishnu]) series
c. 1765
- Medium
- Gum tempera and gold on paper
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Painting: 21.2 x 15.8 cm (8 3/8 x 6 1/4 in.); Overall: 26.8 x 19.4 cm (10 9/16 x 7 5/8 in.)
- Culture
- Northern India, Pahari Region, Himachal Pradesh, Rajput Kingdom of Chamba, Court of Raj Singh (reigned 1764–94)
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Credit line
- Edward L. Whittemore Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its subject is for older viewers (war, death, the Passion, drink or the like). How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Against the dark green and foreboding landscape, the final and much-anticipated battle between the demon king Ravana and the mighty princes Rama and Lakshmana unfolds. Ravana wields twenty weapons, including a poisonous snake in his front left hand. The blue Rama aims an enchanted crescent-shaped arrow at bees emitted from the donkey head at the apex of Ravana’s ten crowns. The arrow and bees stand for powerful mantras, or magical incantations, that can destroy one’s enemies. The impending defeat of Ravana will fulfill the purpose of Vishnu’s incarnation as Rama.
