Artwork Page for Rama’s brothers Bharata and Shatrughna set out from Ayodhya to find Rama and Lakshmana in the forest to inform them of the death of their father Dasharatha, from Chapter 77 of the Ayodhya Kanda (Book of Ayodhya) of a Ramayana (Rama’s Journey)

Details / Information for Rama’s brothers Bharata and Shatrughna set out from Ayodhya to find Rama and Lakshmana in the forest to inform them of the death of their father Dasharatha, from Chapter 77 of the Ayodhya Kanda (Book of Ayodhya) of a Ramayana (Rama’s Journey)

Rama’s brothers Bharata and Shatrughna set out from Ayodhya to find Rama and Lakshmana in the forest to inform them of the death of their father Dasharatha, from Chapter 77 of the Ayodhya Kanda (Book of Ayodhya) of a Ramayana (Rama’s Journey)

c. 1775–80

Northern India, Pahari kingdoms

Medium
Gum tempera and gold on paper
Measurements
Overall: 24.9 x 35.7 cm (9 13/16 x 14 1/16 in.); Painting: 20.5 x 31.5 cm (8 1/16 x 12 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2018.119
Public Domain
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.
Location
On view at National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, DC, Apr 18, 2026 - Jul 26, 2026
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Did You Know?

The three queens of Dasharatha are riding in the covered palanquins.

Description

The artist has masterfully set the somber procession against the stark white walls of the city. In the middle of the page wearing gold crowns, the two brothers of the exiled hero Rama are setting out from the capital to find him, hoping to persuade him to return now that their father has died.
A horizontally oriented tempera and gold painting depicts a procession moving behind a large tan wall. In the middle ground, Bharata and Shatrughna, men with medium-light skin tones and gold crowns, sit in a gold carriage surrounded by soldiers and women. In the background, flowering trees and a well with an ox appear behind a white wall. A mottled pink border frames the composition.

Rama’s brothers Bharata and Shatrughna set out from Ayodhya to find Rama and Lakshmana in the forest to inform them of the death of their father Dasharatha, from Chapter 77 of the Ayodhya Kanda (Book of Ayodhya) of a Ramayana (Rama’s Journey)

c. 1775–80

Northern India, Pahari kingdoms

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