Enthroned Rama and Sita receive homage from their monkey and bear Allies, from the Yuddha Kanda (Book of the War) of a Ramayana (Rama’s Journey) (c. 1765): Art, History and Details

Enthroned Rama and Sita receive homage from their monkey and bear Allies, from the Yuddha Kanda (Book of the War) of a Ramayana (Rama’s Journey) (c. 1765) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This scene is set at the end of the Hindu epic Ramayana, after Rama returns from 14 years of exile in the forest. During Rama’s time of exile, Ravana abducted Rama’s wife Sita. Rama gathered an army of monkeys and bears, and rescued Sita. The chiefs of the monkey and bear armies pay their respects to the reunited royal couple.

Object facts

• Title: Enthroned Rama and Sita receive homage from their monkey and bear Allies, from the Yuddha Kanda (Book of the War) of a Ramayana (Rama’s Journey)
• Date: c. 1765
• Culture: Northern India, Pahari kingdoms
• Type: Painting
• Technique: gum tempera and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Overall: 40.7 x 28.9 cm (16 x 11 3/8 in.); Painting: 23.7 x 14.9 cm (9 5/16 x 5 7/8 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2018.117

A detail from the museum

Rama’s three brothers can be seen at the right side of the painting.

Collection credit

Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Rāmāyaṇa. Translated by Madeleine Biardeau and Marie-Claude Porcher. Paris: Diane de Selliers Éditeur, 2011.
• "New in the Galleries: Newly acquired Indian paintings.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 58, no. 6 (November/December 2018): Back cover.
• Griswold, William, Cameron Kitchin, Chase F. Robinson, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cincinnati Art Museum, and National Museum of Asian Art (Smithsonian Institution). Pahari Paintings: Art and Stories, edited by Sonya Rhie Mace, Sarang Sharma, and Vijay Sharma. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2026.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.