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Title:"Rama Interviews Sita in a Palace Interior," Illustrated folio from the dispersed “Shangri" Ramayana (The Adventures of Rama) (Style II)
Date:ca. 1690–1710
Medium:Opaque watercolor, gold, and silver on paper
Dimensions:H. 8 3/4 in. (22.2 cm) W. 12 1/2 in. (31.8 cm)
Classification:Codices
Credit Line:Promised Gift of the Kronos Collections, 2015
Rama, attended by two maids holding a handkerchief and umbrella, symbols of royalty, interviews Sita while enthroned in a palace interior. He is telling her that King Dasaratha has ordered them to fast. (1) A gatekeeper, standing in a colored niche in the lower register of the picture, keeps watch over Sita’s horses and chariot, which idle in the forecourt of the palace. The incident this unfinished folio would have depicted in full is found in Book Two (Ayodhya kanda) of the Ramayana (Adventures of Rama). This painting, as well as cat. nos. 45, 47, 48, 49, and 50, comes from one of the most famous, and puzzling, series of Indian paintings, the socalled “Shangri Ramayana.” The Series, which illustrates a famous Hindu text, an extremely long, epic poem in Sanskrit describing the exploits of Rama in quest of his abducted wife Sita, originally comprised about 270 folios. Until about 1960 the complete Series belonged to Raja Raghbir Singh of the “Shangri” branch of the Kulu royal family (hence the name). But after about 1960 the Series was widely dispersed. About 60% of its paintings are at present in the National Museum, New Delhi. The remaining works are now in public and private collections scattered throughout the world. W.G. Archer was the first to describe the Series in toto. (2) In an extremely perceptive analysis, he divided it into four parts on the basis of the style and date of each part. Archer’s classifications (Style I etc.) still hold. Yet his belief that the complete Series was painted in the former kingdom of Kulu has not held. B.N. Goswamy and Eberhard Fischer were the first to demonstrate that the earlier parts of the Series (those works painted in Styles I, II, and III) were probably made in Jammu state, a kingdom 100 miles to the west of Kulu, yet adjoining Basohli state, birthplace of the Early Pahari Style. (3) At that time, in the late seventeenth century, the kingdom of Jammu was divided in half. The patrons of the “Shangri Ramayana” ruled from the portion of Jammu state called Bahu (named for the fort of the same designation situated across the river from the city of Jammu) Therefore the Series as it exists today should really be called the “Bahu Ramayana” and not the “Shangri Ramayana.” As the Early Bahu Master, or the First Bahu Master (see also cat. no. 45), was the author of the roughly 24 late seventeenth century folios from the Series painted in Style I, his influence on later generations, and particularly on those artists mimicing his achievement in works painted in Styles II and III, was profound. Therefore, following this line of thought, it is generally believed that the illustrated folios from the Series painted in Styles II and III were also produced at Jammu (Bahu) later in the seventeenth century or early in the eighteenth century, using the drawings of the First Bahu Master (fl. 16751690), or his general style as an artist, as a reference point. But the illustrated folios painted in Style IV the largest component of the Series are radically different. (See cat. no. 50.) Unlike other paintings from the Series, these Style IV illustrations feature pale yellow backgrounds; sparse, undramatic compositions; and a “weird predilection for disjointed forms” (4), displaying the influence of the quite different painting workshops established at the nearby Bilaspur or Mandi courts. Therefore it is thought that the incomplete Series, comprising works painted in Archer’s Styles I, II, and III, was given to the ruler or family of some other place (to Kulu, Mandi or Bilaspur?), and later completed there between the years l7l0 and l740. Or perhaps the Series was completed at Jammu during the same time by immigrant artists from Bilaspur or Mandi, and later given to the royal family of Kulu. One does not know. Therefore the place of production, particularly of the final portion of this great Series, and the specific circumstances that gave rise to this important work of art, remain puzzling even today. Unfortunately a numerical breakdown of the paintings in each of the four styles is not known, although it is certainly safe to say that works painted in Style IV predominate in the Series as a whole. Works painted in Style I (cat. no. 45) are much rarer. (2) W.G. Archer l973, Vol. I, pg. 326 (3) B.N. Goswamy and Eberhard Fischer l992, pp. 768l (4) W.G. Archer 1973, Vol. I, pg. 329 (1) I am indebted to Alka Bagri for this information.
Inscription: Inscribed on the front along the border in black ink written in takri script with the number “28”; also inscribed with the number “17” and the word “Ayodhya” written in pencil in takri script; also written in pencil in takri script: “Sita stands in front of Rama with folded hands . . . obeying orders”
Doris Weiner
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Divine Pleasures: Painting from India's Rajput Courts—The Kronos Collections," June 13–September 11, 2016.
New York,. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Sita and Rama: The Ramayana in Indian Painting," August 3, 2019–March 7, 2021.
The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world.
