Indra Visits Sita in Ravana's Garden

Currently not on view

Indra Visits Sita in Ravana's Garden

c. 1775-1780

Artist/maker unknown, Indian

After kidnapping Sita, the demon king Ravana imprisons her in his palace on the island of Lanka. There she is guarded night and day by demonesses. Overwhelmed by her grief and longing for Rama, she has become emaciated. This nighttime scene shows Sita on a golden throne amid the geometric flowerbeds of the palace garden. Her guardians have been magically cast into sleep and Indra-identifiable by the many eyes on his body-appears before her. The god humbly offers Sita a bowl of food, holding a cloth below it as if he were her servant.

Object Details

Title:

Indra Visits Sita in Ravana's Garden
Page from a dispersed series of the Ramayana

Date:

c. 1775-1780

Artist:

Artist/maker unknown, Indian

Medium:

Opaque watercolor and gold on paper

Dimensions:

Image: 8 1/16 × 12 3/16 inches (20.5 × 31 cm) Sheet: 9 7/8 × 14 1/8 inches (25.1 × 35.9 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

Purchased with the Katharine Levin Farrell Fund and the John T. Morris Fund, 1977

Accession Number:

1977-11-1

Geography:

Made in Guler, Himachal Pradesh, India, Asia or made in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, India, Asia

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Currently not on view