The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 24, 2024

Jatayu hinders Ravana’s chariot trying to prevent Sita’s abduction (recto), from a Kalighat album

Jatayu hinders Ravana’s chariot trying to prevent Sita’s abduction (recto), from a Kalighat album

c. 1890
(Indian, active late 1800s)
Eastern India, Bengal, Kolkata, Kalighat
woodcut
Secondary Support: 49.8 x 31.4 cm (19 5/8 x 12 3/8 in.); image only: 40.6 x 26.5 cm (16 x 10 7/16 in.)
Gift of William E. Ward in memory of his wife, Evelyn Svec Ward 2003.111.a
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

In the Bengali version of this episode, Jatayu swallows Ravana’s chariot only to vomit it out once he realizes Sita is aboard.

Description

As ten-headed Ravana successfully flies away with his quarry, Princess Sita, the demon king is stopped by the great vulture Jatayu, an ally to Sita’s husband Rama.

Closely resembling the Bengali paintings of the same subject, a woodcut print was a less expensive alternative to a painting. Almost any resident of the burgeoning city of Calcutta (now Kolkata) could afford to acquire one. Woodcuts such as this were made on paper that Christian missionaries intended for the production of Bibles. However, local artists used it to mass-produce popular Hindu imagery.
  • ?–2003
    William E. Ward [1922–2004], Solon, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2003–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Imagining Rama's Journey (Indian Painting rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 10-September 17, 2023).
  • {{cite web|title=Jatayu hinders Ravana’s chariot trying to prevent Sita’s abduction (recto), from a Kalighat album|url=false|author=Shri Gobinda Chandra Roy|year=c. 1890|access-date=24 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2003.111.a