Jatayu hinders Ravana’s chariot trying to prevent Sita’s abduction (recto), from a Kalighat album
Medium
woodcut
Dimensions
secondary support: 49.8 × 31.4 cm · image only: 40.6 × 26.5 cm
Classification
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of William E. Ward in memory of his wife, Evelyn Svec Ward
Accession Number
2003.111.a
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
About this artwork
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. Howe...