Rama and Sita enthroned (recto), from a Kalighat album
Unknown Artist
c. 1890
Medium
Gum tempera, graphite, and ink on paper
Dimensions
painting: 31 × 25.6 cm · secondary support: 47.9 × 29.3 cm
Classification
Painting
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
2003.134.a
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Rama has been crowned king upon his return to Ayodhya at the end of a 14-year exile, having rescued his wife Sita from imprisonment on the island of Lanka. King Rama still holds his signature emblems of bow and arrow. His brother Lakshmana, here shown as green like Rama, holds the insignia of royalty, a flywhisk. Another brother holds the royal parasol. Hanuman, Rama’s semidivine monkey general, prostrates himself before the couple. Devotees who travel to the Hindu temple at Kalighat could purch...