King Ravana in the Golden City,Page from the 3rd Book (?) of the Ramayana

Origin: Indian Punjab Hills, Kangra
Date: About 1790-1800
Medium: Opaque watercolor and gold
Ackland Fund
82.5.4

The story of Rama’s rescue of Sita, his kidnapped wife, is recounted in the great Hindu epic known as Ramayana. Ramayana’s importance in India cannot be overstated; although the story’s origins are ancient, a recent television serial of it was wildly popular in India. Rama, one of the avatars of the Hindu god Vishnu and therefore divine, is the exemplar of duty; Sita is understood as the ideal woman – beautiful, virtuous and brave.

Here we see Ravana, the ten-headed demon king, in his golden palace on the island of Lanka. Grotesque demons inhabit this stronghold, many of whom are shown preparing for battle. Although Sita is not visible, the text tells us that she was kept captive in an inner courtyard, refusing to surrender to the demon king’s demands that she forsake her husband Rama and become a queen in Lanka. After much bloodshed and many adventures, Ravana is finally vanquished and Sita restored.

Indian miniature paintings like this one are prized for the refined delicacy with which they are painted. Precious materials, including gold, lapis lazuli and other minerals are ground by hand to create the brilliant pigments. Some of the brushes are so small they contain a single hair from a squirrel's tail. The intimate scale of such paintings suggests the ways in which they were originally viewed: bound in albums, they were studied in solitude or shared among a small group for entertainment, perhaps with a retelling of the story.