The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 24, 2024

The birth of Rama and his brothers, from Chapter 17 of the Bala Kanda (Book of Childhood) of the Adhyatma Ramayana (Rama's Journey of the Supreme Spirit) from the Brahmanda Purana (Ancient Scripture of the Cosmic Egg)

The birth of Rama and his brothers, from Chapter 17 of the Bala Kanda (Book of Childhood) of the Adhyatma Ramayana (Rama's Journey of the Supreme Spirit) from the Brahmanda Purana (Ancient Scripture of the Cosmic Egg)

c. 1820–30
(reigned 1823–33)
Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Painting: 25.1 x 34 cm (9 7/8 x 13 3/8 in.); Overall: 29.9 x 38.5 cm (11 3/4 x 15 3/16 in.)
Edward L. Whittemore Fund 1953.13
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

King Dasharatha thought his wife Kaikeyi, shown sleeping, was the most beautiful of his three wives.

Description

In a retelling of the Ramayana from the 1200s, the blue god Vishnu appears in a vision to Queen Kaushalya just before she gives birth to his incarnation as Rama. In the foreground, her co-wife Queen Sumitra nurses one of her own newborn twins, Lakshmana and Shatrughna. Rama’s half-brother Bharata lies swaddled next to his mother Queen Kaikeyi on an adjacent terrace of the women’s quarters. The patterned carvings and textiles of the palace interior communicate the luxury into which the princes were born, and from which Rama and Lakshmana will be eventually exiled.
  • ?–1953
    (Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1953–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Boger, Ann C., and Joellin K. DeOreo. Sacred India: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1985. Reproduced: p.25.
    Ward, William E. "Three Indian Paintings." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 42, no. 1 (Jan. 1955): 12–15. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 13–14 www.jstor.org
    Leach, Linda York. Indian Miniature Paintings and Drawings. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1986. Reproduced: p. 302, cat. no. 130
  • Imagining Rama's Journey (Indian Painting rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 10-September 17, 2023).
    Sacred India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 5, 1985-January 12, 1986).
  • {{cite web|title=The birth of Rama and his brothers, from Chapter 17 of the Bala Kanda (Book of Childhood) of the Adhyatma Ramayana (Rama's Journey of the Supreme Spirit) from the Brahmanda Purana (Ancient Scripture of the Cosmic Egg)|url=false|author=|year=c. 1820–30|access-date=24 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1953.13