"The Court of Ravana", Folio from a Ramayana

Four folios from the Ramayana (nos. 2002.503, .506, .505, .504)

The Indian epic poem Ramayana recounts the tale of the legendary prince Rama and his battle against Ravana, the king of the demons, which Rama fought and won with the aid of the monkey and bear armies. In contrast to other Ramayana manuscripts of this period, which were translated into Persian at the order of the Mughal emperor Akbar (r. 1556–1605), this particular series retains its original Sanskrit text, an indication that it was probably made for a Hindu patron.[1] Its provenance from the Datia collection and the existence of pale traces of drawings on the reverse in a Datia style suggest that the patron may have been the wealthy Bundela Rajput noble Bir Singh Deo Bundela (d. 1627). Bir Singh was prominent at the Mughal court, supporting Prince Salim in his rebellion against Akbar and infamously remembered as the assassin of Abu’l Fazl. As a court noble he was able to patronize Mughal-trained artists (although ones of lesser fame than those in the employ of the emperor) in the practice known as subimperial patronage, which is confirmed here by the characteristic simplified Mughal style of these paintings.

These painted folios were never bound with a continuous text; rather each illustrated leaf had selected passages written on the reverse. Damage from a fire soon after the completion of the series explains the irregular shape of the pages, but their essential compositions and palpable liveliness still survive. The series contained an unknown number of painted folios executed by a group of minor artists, who have been associated with other subimperial projects and who may have been dismissed from the imperial atelier at the end of Akbar’s reign.[2] The multiple hands involved drew upon a variety of sources—both from the imperial Mughal style and from farther afield—and contributed an inventive approach to pattern and space. As a result, the manuscript has a richly flavored character, which is reflected in the Metropolitan’s folios, some of which show influences from Persian models as well as Indian styles.

The brilliant red color and oversized Chinese ribbon cloud seen in "Rama Receives Sugriva and Jambavat" (no. 2002.503)) reflect the strong palette and forms of Rajput painting and contrast with the more classically restrained Mughal approach in "Kumbhakarna in the Golden City of Lanka" (no. 2002.504). Understated emotion is conveyed in "The Death of King Dasharatha" (no. 2002.506), which shows the blind king’s three wives pulling their hair loose in an expression of grief. Also seen on other folios, the juxtaposition of patterns here appears to be a throwback to Mughal projects of an earlier period such as the Hamzanama.[3] Oversized clouds and the employment of the figure style suggest that the artist might have been the same as in the previous folio depicting Rama. "The Court of Ravana" (no. 2002.505), which shows the ten-headed demon and his son Indrajit holding durbar, is the most unusual in style, with a bolder, less refined handling of the demons, who are nonetheless appealingly characterized. The Persianate div models upon which the demons are ultimately based, the blue-and-white-tiled iwan arch in the background, and, more remotely, the tiered composition indicate that the artist was aware of Shiraz and other Persian painting styles. In the folio depicting Ravana’s brother, the giant Kumbhkarna, being awakened by demons, similar div figures are treated in a far more refined manner.

Navina Haidar in [Ekhtiar, Soucek, Canby, and Haidar 2011]

Footnotes:

1. All four folios here are published: Navina Haidar in Topsfield 2004, pp. 360, 367, figs 159–62. Further pages from the same series are on pp. 354–55, figs. 157–58. Further leaves from the same series are illustrated in the following: Chandra, Pramod. “A Series of Ramayana Paintings of the Popular Mughal School.” Prince of Wales Museum Bulletin, no. 6 (1957–59), pp. 64–70,figs. 18–27; Chandra, Pramod. “Ustad Salivahana and the Development of Popular Mughal Art.” Lalit Kala, no. 8 (October 1960), pp. 25–46, fig. 16; Gairola, C. Krishna.“Paintings from India, Nepal and Tibet.” Arts in Virginia 2, no. 1 (Fall 1970), pp. 4–23, no. 8; Indian Miniature Painting from the Collection of Edwin Binney, 3rd. Vol. 1, The Mughal and Deccani Schools with Some Related Sultanate Material. Exhibition, Portland Art Museum and other venues. Catalogue by Edwin Binney, 3rd. Portland, Ore., 1973, nos. 24, 34; The Imperial Image: Paintings for the Mughal Court. Exhibition, Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Catalogue by Milo Cleveland Beach. Washington, D.C., 1981, p. 130, fig. 18; Indian Painting, 1525–1825. Exhibition, David Carritt Limited, London. Catalogue by Terence McInerney. London, 1982., nos. 6–7; In the Image of Man: The Indian Perception of the Universe through 2000 Years of Painting and Sculpture. Exhibition, Hayward Gallery, London. Catalogue by George Michell, Catherine Lampert, and Tristram Holland. London, 1982, pp. 82–83, 205, no. 382; Indian Miniatures: The Ehrenfeld Collection. Exhibition, American Federation of Arts, New York, and other venues. Catalogue by Daniel J. Ehnbom, with Robert Skelton and Pramod Chandra. New York, 1985, no. 15; Indian Paintings and Drawings from the Collection of Howard Hodgkin. Exhibition, British Museum, London; Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Museum Rietberg Zürich; Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Catalogue by Andrew Topsfield and Milo Cleveland Beach. New York and London, 1991, no. 4; Pal, Pratapaditya. Indian Painting. Vol. 1, 1000–1700. A Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collection.Los Angeles, 1993, nos. 83 a-b; Pal, Pratapaditya. Divine Images, Human Visions: The Max Tanenbaum Collection of South Asian and Himalayan Art in the National Gallery of Canada. Ottowa, 1997, no. 38; Goswamy, B[rijindra] N[ath], with Usha Bhatia. Painted Visions: The Goenka Collection of Indian Paintings. New Delhi, 1999, pp. 46–47, no. 36 and front cover ill.; Seyller, John. Workshop and Patron in Mughal India: The Freer Ramayana and Other Illustrated Manuscripts of ‘Abd al-Rahim. Artibus Asiae Supplementum, 42. Zurich, 1999, figs. 12–13; Intimate Worlds: Indian Paintings from the Alvin O. Bellak Collection. Exhibition, Philadelphia Museum of Art. Catalogue by Darielle Mason and others. Philadelphia, 2001, no. 16; L’India dei Rajput: Miniature dalla Collezione Ducrot. Exhibition, Museo d’Arte Orientale,Turin. Catalogue by Claudia Ramasso and others. Milan, 2010, p. 156, no. 142.

2. John Seyller in Intimate Worlds: Indian Paintings from the Alvin O. Bellak Collection. Exhibition, Philadelphia Museum of Art. Catalogue by Darielle Mason and others. Philadelphia, 2001, no. 16 discusses this series and speculates on artists.

3. Seyller, ibid., points this out.


Ravana with his Son Indrajit and Demon Couriers

This particular folio is distinguished from all others in the manuscript by its remarkable style, which seems to be looking to fifteenth-century Indian and Persian painting for inspiration. The composition is divided into two registers, with the ten-headed demon Ravana and another figure, probably his son Indrajit, seated in a pavillion area above. While Ravana's many faces resemble human visages, his son and their demon courtiers form an array of Persianate div figures, many in Safavid dress. The scene is rendered in a slightly naive manner, with areas of patterning and a golden sky with Chinese-style cloud forms. The spandrels of the pavillion are decorated with blue and white patterns, resembling Persian tile decoration seen in manuscript painting, particularly of the Shiraz school. [1] In contrast to other pages, this folio represents a distinct style which is archaizing and more provincial, yet also marketly fresh.

According to the description provided in the text, Ravana's appearance was dazzling but terrible: he wore costly linen daubed with sandalwood, with a pearl necklace and arms laden with bracelets. His eyes were reddened and had a fierce glaze, and behind his protruding lips were brilliantly sharp teeth. His seat was a gem-studded crystal throne, surrounded by his four advisors and beautiful women.[2] While the painting does not represent all these details, it attempts to show the splendor of the demon court in its varied depiction of individual figures.

Navina Haidar in [Topsfield 2004]

Footnotes:

1. Soudavar, A., Art of the Persian Courts. New York, 1992, p. 247, fig. 98b, shows a Shiraz painting with similar architectural elements.

2. Shastri tr., H. P., The Ramayana of Valmiki. London 1959, vol. 2, p. 454.

Datia Royal Collection, India; Private collection, Calcutta (from 1947); Private collection, Europe; [ Terence McInerney, New York, until 2002; sold to MMA]

New York. Asia Society. "In the Realm of Gods and Kings: Arts of India, Selections from the Polsky Collections and The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 14, 2004–January 2, 2005, no. 161.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Ramayana," July 6–October 9, 2005.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Gods and Demons," November 14, 2006–March 4, 2007.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Epic India: Scenes from the Ramayana," March 30–September 19, 2010.

San Francisco. Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. "The Rama Epic: Hero, Heroine, Ally, Foe," October 21, 2016–January 15, 2017.

New York,. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Sita and Rama: The Ramayana in Indian Painting," August 3, 2019–March 7, 2021.

Topsfield, Andrew, ed. "Arts of India." In In the Realm of Gods and Kings. London; New York: Philip Wilson Publishers, 2004. no. 161, pp. 354–55, 364–65, ill. pp. 355, 365, (color).

Ekhtiar, Maryam, Priscilla P. Soucek, Sheila R. Canby, and Navina Haidar, ed. Masterpieces from the Department of Islamic Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1st ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011. no. 249C, pp. 339, 356–57, ill. p. 357 (color).

McGill, Forrest, Pika Ghosh, Robert P. Goldman, Sally J. Sutherland Goldman, and Philip Lutgendorf. The Rama Epic: Hero, Heroine, Ally, Foe. San Francisco: Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 2016. cat. no. 106, p. 215, ill. pl. 106.