Rama Bestows His Possessions on the Brahmins, His Friends, and Servants, Folio from the "Shangri" Ramayana (Adventures of Rama)

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Rama Bestows His Possessions on the Brahmins, His Friends, and Servants, Folio from the "Shangri" Ramayana (Adventures of Rama)

India, Jammu and Kashmir, Bahu, circa 1680-1695
Drawings; watercolors
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper
Image: 8 1/8 x 11 3/8 in. (20.64 x 28.89 cm); Sheet: 8 3/4 x 12 3/8 in. (22.23 x 31.43 cm)
From the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, Museum Associates Purchase (M.77.19.22)
South and Southeast Asian Art
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

This masterful painting depicts the well-known episode in Book 2 (Ayodhya kanda) of the Hindu epic, the Ramayana (Adventures of Rama), when Prince Rama gives away his possessions before being unjustly...
This masterful painting depicts the well-known episode in Book 2 (Ayodhya kanda) of the Hindu epic, the Ramayana (Adventures of Rama), when Prince Rama gives away his possessions before being unjustly banished to his fourteen-year forest exile. He is accompanied by his wife Sita and his brother Lakshmana. A subtle but critical detail of the painting is the presence of what appear at first glance to be small drips of paint that are strewn across the lower half of the painting. Significantly, all of the “drips” are beneath the level of the blue-skinned Rama’s hands bestowing the scarf, all are precisely rendered circles or teardrops with trailing lines indicating downward directionality, and all stand out against plain backgrounds. Rather than being accidental paint drips or mere rain from the heavens, their proper interpretation can be gleaned from the simile used in the text to describe Rama’s generosity: “Summon the two eminent Brahmins Agastya and Kaushika and in homage shower precious objects on them, Saumitri [Lakshmana], as crops are showered with rain.” (Ramayana 2.29.12) Thus, the “paint drips” are actually intended to be rain drops that brilliantly symbolize Rama’s largesse in visual terms as an abundance of treasures “raining” on the recipients. The recognition of this visual simile is crucial for definitively identifying the Ramayana verse illustrated by this painting. See its series mates M.74.5.11, M.83.105.9, M.87.278.2, and M.91.348.2.
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Bibliography

  • Markel, Stephen. "The Enigmatic Image: Curious Subjects in Indian Art." Asianart.com, July 28, 2015. http://asianart.com/articles/enigmatic.

     

  • Pal, Pratapaditya. "Ramayana Pictures from the Hills in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art." In Ramayana: Pahari Paintings, edited by Roy C. Craven, 87-106. Bombay: Marg Publications, 1990.

  • Markel, Stephen. "The Enigmatic Image: Curious Subjects in Indian Art." Asianart.com, July 28, 2015. http://asianart.com/articles/enigmatic.

     

  • Pal, Pratapaditya. "Ramayana Pictures from the Hills in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art." In Ramayana: Pahari Paintings, edited by Roy C. Craven, 87-106. Bombay: Marg Publications, 1990.
  • Rosenfield, John.  The Arts of India and Nepal: The Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection.  Boston:  Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1966.
  • Donahue, Kenneth. Los Angeles County Museum of Art Handbook. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1977.
  • Pal, Pratapaditya. Indian Paintings in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  New Delhi: Lalit Kala Akademi, 1982.
  • Goswamy, B.N. and Eberhard Fischer.  Pahari Masters:  Court Painters of Northern India.  Zürich:  Artibus Asiae Publishers and Museum Rietberg, 1992.
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