- Title
- Coronation of Rama, Scroll with Scenes from the Ramacharitmanas (Holy Lake of the Deeds of Rama) (?)
- Date Made
- late 19th century
- Medium
- Opaque watercolor on paper
- Dimensions
- 59 1/2 x 23 in. (151.13 x 58.42 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2006.180.1
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
Picture scrolls (pats) illustrating episodes from the life of Hindu deities were used by rural itinerant storytellers (patuas or scroll painters) in Bengal who entertained their village customers by singing tales from Hindu mythology while unrolling their scrolls depicting the heroic legends. There were several regional styles of Bengali scroll painting, with painters in each district producing scrolls in their own distinct artistic style. Scrolls often open with a single large figure because an initial, striking visual image was painted at the beginning to attract the attention of passersby. The successive narrow registrars were typically crowded with figures representing a single or as many as two or three events.
The legendary life of Rama was a favored subject of Bengali scroll painting. Rather than being drawn from the original Sanskrit rendition of his exploits, the Ramayana (Adventures of Rama), the narrative vignettes in the scrolls were generally based on a later vernacular reiteration that was current in Bengal during the 19th century. Known as the Ramacharitmanas (Holy Lake of the Deeds of Rama), it was composed by the Hindi poet Tulsidas (1532-1623) born in Uttar Pradesh near present-day Allahabad.
This (now-fragmentary) scroll opens with a prominent depiction of the green-skinned Rama at his coronation in Ayodhya. His wife Sita is enthroned beside him, while his brother Lakshmana hold a ceremonial parasol over his head.
See also M.71.1.32 and M.2006.180.2.