Rama and Lakshmana Fighting Ravana, from a Dashavatara (Ten Incarnations [of Vishnu]) series (c. 1765): Art, History and Details

Rama and Lakshmana Fighting Ravana, from a Dashavatara (Ten Incarnations [of Vishnu]) series (c. 1765) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Against the dark green and foreboding landscape, the final and much-anticipated battle between the demon king Ravana and the mighty princes Rama and Lakshmana unfolds. Ravana wields twenty weapons, including a poisonous snake in his front left hand. The blue Rama aims an enchanted crescent-shaped arrow at bees emitted from the donkey head at the apex of Ravana’s ten crowns. The arrow and bees stand for powerful mantras, or magical incantations, that can destroy one’s enemies. The impending defeat of Ravana will fulfill the purpose of Vishnu’s incarnation as Rama.

Object facts

• Title: Rama and Lakshmana Fighting Ravana, from a Dashavatara (Ten Incarnations [of Vishnu]) series
• Date: c. 1765
• Culture: Northern India, Pahari Region, Himachal Pradesh, Rajput Kingdom of Chamba, Court of Raj Singh (reigned 1764–94)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Painting: 21.2 x 15.8 cm (8 3/8 x 6 1/4 in.); Overall: 26.8 x 19.4 cm (10 9/16 x 7 5/8 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1953.357

A detail from the museum

Rama and Lakshmana wield divine bows in their fight against the ten-headed demon Ravana.

Collection credit

Edward L. Whittemore Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. and George Montgomery. Rajput Painting; with an introductory essay and catalogue notes. New York: Asia House, 1960.
• Leach, Linda York. Indian Miniature Paintings and Drawings. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1986.
• Cleveland Museum of Art. Images of the Mind. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1987.

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.