Rama and Sita enthroned (recto), from a Kalighat album (c. 1890): Art, History and Details

Rama and Sita enthroned (recto), from a Kalighat album (c. 1890) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Rama has been crowned king upon his return to Ayodhya at the end of a 14-year exile, having rescued his wife Sita from imprisonment on the island of Lanka. King Rama still holds his signature emblems of bow and arrow. His brother Lakshmana, here shown as green like Rama, holds the insignia of royalty, a flywhisk. Another brother holds the royal parasol. Hanuman, Rama’s semidivine monkey general, prostrates himself before the couple. Devotees who travel to the Hindu temple at Kalighat could purchase a painting of this type to commemorate their visit and to adorn a domestic altar.

Object facts

• Title: Rama and Sita enthroned (recto), from a Kalighat album
• Date: c. 1890
• Culture: Eastern India, Bengal, Kolkata, Kalighat
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera, graphite, and ink on paper
• Dimensions: Painting: 31 x 25.6 cm (12 3/16 x 10 1/16 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2003.134.a

A detail from the museum

Hanuman, Rama’s monkey devotee, prostrates himself before Rama as a sign of his humility.

Collection credit

Gift of William E. Ward in memory of his wife, Evelyn Svec Ward

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.