Collection Online as of June 1, 2023

Enthroned Rama and Sita receive homage from their monkey and bear Allies, from the Yuddha Kanda (Book of the War) of a Ramayana (Rama’s Journey)

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

Gum tempera and gold on paper

Overall: 40.7 x 28.9 cm (16 x 11 3/8 in.); Painting: 23.7 x 14.9 cm (9 5/16 x 5 7/8 in.)

Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2018.117

Location

242B Indian Painting

Fun Fact

Rama’s three brothers can be seen at the right side of the painting.

Description

This scene is set at the end of the Hindu epic Ramayana, after Rama returns from 14 years of exile in the forest. During Rama’s time of exile, Ravana abducted Rama’s wife Sita. Rama gathered an army of monkeys and bears, and rescued Sita. The chiefs of the monkey and bear armies pay their respects to the reunited royal couple.

Inscriptions

Inscription

[[verso, upper center, in English, four lines]] Lord Rama + with his wife Sitā sitting his throne after coming back from (forest) + (forest) king monkey + (here) showing his (sumptuary)

Provenance

1979

(Christie’s, London, England, lot 119, sold to Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Ralph Benkaim)

1979–2018

Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Ralph Benkaim Collection

2018–

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Diane de Selliers, ed., Rāmāyaṇa. Volume VII. Paris, 2011. Reproduced: p. 91.

Exhibition history

Indian Gallery 242 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (September 10, 2018-April 7, 2019).

Imagining Rama's Journey (Indian Painting rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 10-September 17, 2023).