The Ramayana (Adventures of Rama) 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. Rama and Sita epitomize the ideal ruler and the paragon of fidelity in Hindu culture.
This illustration is from Book 3 (Aranya kanda) when Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana took refuge in the Panchavati Forest. After Lakshmana cuts off the nose and ears of the ogress Shurpanakha for insulting Rama and attacking Sita, Shurpanakha fled and complained to her brother Khara, who returned and attacked Rama with his army of 14,000 demon warriors. Here, Rama kills the fiendish horde. In the upper register, Lakshmana guards Sita sheltered within a cave. (Ramayana 3:18-19).
This folio appears to be from a different Ramayana series than a second contemporaneous Ramayana series from Sawar. See a folio formerly in the Howard Hodgkin Collection, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2022.218).
For another version of this episode, see M.79.191.7.
