King Dasharatha confers with Kaikeyi, from the “Shangri” Ramayana (c. 1700–1725): Art, History and Details

King Dasharatha confers with Kaikeyi, from the “Shangri” Ramayana (c. 1700–1725) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Two years after the weddings of his four sons, King Dasharatha is ready to retire and name Rama as his successor. To simplify matters in the palace, he feels that he should send two of Rama’s brothers on a trip to visit their maternal grandfather, so that they will be away when he makes the announcement. In the top margin is the number 18 in the Takri script of the northwest Himalayas. It was not intended to remain visible because the opaque mercury-red or arsenic-yellow paint would have covered it. These toxic pigments, used to prevent insects or animals from eating the paper, were never applied to the border, indicating its unfinished state.

Object facts

• Title: King Dasharatha confers with Kaikeyi, from the “Shangri” Ramayana
• Date: c. 1700–1725
• Culture: Northern India, Pahari kingdoms, Himachal Pradesh
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera and ink on paper
• Dimensions: Page: 22.5 x 32.7 cm (8 7/8 x 12 7/8 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1996.361

A detail from the museum

Dasharatha’s chief wife Kaushalya, mother of Rama, kneels on the golden stool.

Collection credit

Gift of Norman Zaworski in honor of Sherman and Ruth Lee

Further reading listed by the museum

• Valmiki's Ramayana, Book II, Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 4, verses 1 - 4.
• Cleveland Museum of Art, “Major Neoclassical Marble, Rare Korean Sculpture, Other Recent CMA Acquisitions Now on View,” April 16, 1997, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.

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.