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Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana in the forest
c. 1830
- Medium
- Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Painting: 21.5 x 15.1 cm (8 7/16 x 5 15/16 in.); Overall: 23.9 x 17.3 cm (9 7/16 x 6 13/16 in.)
- Culture
- Northern India, Pahari Region, Himachal Pradesh, Rajput Kingdom of Kangra, Court of Aniruddh Chand (reigned 1823–1833)
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Credit line
- Bequest of Mrs. Severance A. Millikin
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Although banished from their home, Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana enjoy ten years of relative peace in the wilderness. They build a small hut, make clothes of bark cloth, and eat from the bounty of the forest. Lakshmana neatly prepares meat and roasts kabobs over a fire.
The oval format, adopted from European models, suggests this scene was part of an album series. The pale hues and placement of figures in a space that recedes into the background reveal awareness of imperial Mughal paintings. The hilly scenery was likely inspired by the landscape surrounding the Kangra Valley.
