Rama’s brothers Bharata and Shatrughna set out from Ayodhya to find Rama and Lakshmana in the forest to inform them of the death of their father Dasharatha, from Chapter 77 of the Ayodhya Kanda (Book

Rama’s brothers Bharata and Shatrughna set out from Ayodhya to find Rama and Lakshmana in the forest to inform them of the death of their father Dasharatha, from Chapter 77 of the Ayodhya Kanda (Book of Ayodhya) of a Ramayana (Rama’s Journey) (c. 1775–80) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The artist has masterfully set the somber procession against the stark white walls of the city. In the middle of the page wearing gold crowns, the two brothers of the exiled hero Rama are setting out from the capital to find him, hoping to persuade him to return now that their father has died.

Object facts

• Title: Rama’s brothers Bharata and Shatrughna set out from Ayodhya to find Rama and Lakshmana in the forest to inform them of the death of their father Dasharatha, from Chapter 77 of the Ayodhya Kanda (Book of Ayodhya) of a Ramayana (Rama’s Journey)
• Date: c. 1775–80
• Culture: Northern India, Pahari kingdoms
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Overall: 24.9 x 35.7 cm (9 13/16 x 14 1/16 in.); Painting: 20.5 x 31.5 cm (8 1/16 x 12 3/8 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2018.119

A detail from the museum

The three queens of Dasharatha are riding in the covered palanquins.

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.
• Mace, Sonya Rhie. “Acquisitions 2018: Indian and Southeast Asian Art.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 59, no. 2 (March/April 2019): 26–27.
• 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.