The Ramayana narrates the epic saga of the valiant Prince Rama and his dutiful wife, Princess Sita, who was abducted by Ravana, the arrogant ten-headed King of Lanka (probably modern Sri Lanka), during Rama's unjust fourteen-year forest exile from his capital of Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. To rescue Sita, Rama and his faithful brother Lakshmana assembled a great army of monkeys and bears led by the Monkey-King Sugriva and his Monkey-General Hanuman. After several magical battles, the princess was freed, and the happy couple triumphantly returned home to rule their kingdom. The Hindi inscription in the header states, “All the monkeys rush towards Mount Rishyamuka.” (Translation by Stephen Markel.) This episode is from Book 4 (Kishkindha kanda) when the Monkey-King Sugriva summoned all the monkeys to his palace on Mount Rishyamuka to hear the call to action by Lakshmana (Ramayana 4:36:1-37). This folio illustration encapsulates verses 20-24: “three times ten million very swift, leaping monkeys…came; ten times ten million [monkeys]… came; a thousand times ten million [monkeys]… came; then came a thousand thousands of ten millions; [and] down… rushed thousands of ten millions of terrifying monkeys.” This painting, and its series mates M.74.5.11, M.77.19.22, M.83.105.9, and M.91.348.2, are from a widely dispersed series known as the “Shangri” Ramayana, so called because it was formerly in the ancestral collection of the Shangri branch of the royal family of Kulu, Himachal Pradesh.

• 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.
• Pal, Pratapaditya.  The Classical Tradition in Rajput Painting.  New York: The Gallery Association of New York State, 1978.