The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of September 16, 2026

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

Gum tempera and gold on paper
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.)
Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2018.119
Location: Not on view

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.
  • ?–2008
    (Chughtai, sold to the Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Ralph Benkaim Collection)
    2008–2018
    Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Ralph Benkaim Collection
    2018–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Rāmāyaṇa. Translated by Madeleine Biardeau and Marie-Claude Porcher. Paris: Diane de Selliers Éditeur, 2011. Reproduced: p. 179
    Mace, Sonya Rhie. “Acquisitions 2018: Indian and Southeast Asian Art.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 59, no. 2 (March/April 2019): 26–27. Reproduced: p. 27; Mentioned: pp. 26, 27 archive.org
    Griswold, William, Cameron Kitchin, Chase F. Robinson, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cincinnati Art Museum, and National Museum of Asian Art (Smithsonian Institution). Pahari Paintings: Art and Stories, edited by Sonya Rhie Mace, Sarang Sharma, and Vijay Sharma. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2026. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 184-185, no. 52
  • Of the Hills: Paintings from India’s Himalayan Kingdoms. National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, DC (organizer) (April 18-July 26, 2026) https://asia.si.edu/whats-on/exhibitions/of-the-hills/.
    Imagining Rama’s Journey. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 10-September 17, 2023).
    Indian Gallery 242 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (September 10, 2018-April 7, 2019).
  • {{cite web|title=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)|url=false|author=|year=c. 1775–80|access-date=16 September 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2018.119