The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 17, 2025

Sugriva challenges his brother Vali, King of the Forest Dwellers, to a duel, folio 10 from the Kishkindha Kanda (Book of Kishkindha) of a Ramayana (Rama’s Journey)

c. 1700–1720

Northern India, Pahari Region, Himachal Pradesh, Rajput Kingdom of Nurpur, Court of Dayadhata

(reigned 1700–1735)
Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Painting: 16.4 x 26.8 cm (6 7/16 x 10 9/16 in.); Overall: 20.7 x 31 cm (8 1/8 x 12 3/16 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1973.103
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The orange monkey Hanuman and the princes Lakshmana and Rama hide behind trees while Sugriva calls for Vali.

Description

In a morally ambiguous scene, the white monkey Sugriva calls to his brother Vali, the rightful king of the forest-dwellers, to emerge from a cave. Behind him, the blue hero Rama hides with his brother and monkey ally Hanuman. Clutching a deadly three-pronged arrow, Rama prepares to slay Vali, so Sugriva will rise as king and be obliged to help locate Rama’s lost wife.

Paintings from this series illustrate a local Himalayan Ramayana. Their distinctive style incorporates rock formations and textiles reinterpreted from Mughal sources, probably brought to Nurpur when the Mughal emperor retreated there during the hot season.
  • ?–1973
    (William H. Wolff, Inc., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1973–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • "The Year in Review for 1973." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 61, no. 2 (1974): 31-78. Mentioned: no. 198, p. 79; Reproduced: no. 198, p. 61. www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 309. archive.org
    Leach, Linda York. Indian Miniature Paintings and Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Oriental Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1986. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 137, pp. 312–314.
    Tōyō kaiga no seika: tokubetsuten: Kurīvurando Bijutsukan no korekushon kara [東洋絵画の精華: 特别展: クリーヴラント美術館のコレクションから= Highlights of Asian painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art]. Nara, Japan: Nara National Museum, 1998. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 33, cat. no. 12.
  • Imagining Rama’s Journey. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 10-September 17, 2023).
    Indian Miniature Rotation (Gallery 115). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 4 - August 5, 2003).
    Highlights of Asian Paintings from The Cleveland Museum of Art. Nara National Museum (organizer) (February 21-March 29, 1998); Suntory Museum of Art (April 28-June 21, 1998).
  • {{cite web|title=Sugriva challenges his brother Vali, King of the Forest Dwellers, to a duel, folio 10 from the Kishkindha Kanda (Book of Kishkindha) of a Ramayana (Rama’s Journey)|url=false|author=|year=c. 1700–1720|access-date=17 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1973.103