
Mark Rasmussen
International Director
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Sold for US$27,500 inc. premium
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International Director
With Lanka in the background, Rama draws his final crescent arrow to decapitate the great ogre, whose severed limbs crush teams of monkeys below. Yet more led by Hanuman and Sugriva heroically dash to subdue the great demon drawing his last exhausted breath.
From Book 6, the ogre is one of the younger brothers of Ravana, possibly Kumbhakarna, who used to stay awake for six months and then sleep for six months. He was awoken prematurely by Ravana to kill the invading army of Rama and Lakshmana who had come to rescue the abducted Sita. After Kumbhakarna decimated the monkey army of Sugriva and Hanuman, Rama joined the battle. He fired countless arrows with curved crescent points that dismembered each limb.
Another page from this series is in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, see Pal in Craven (ed.), Ramayana Paintings from the Pahari Tradition, p.100, no.9 and two further sold at Christie's, New York, 26 & 27 September 2017, lot 229; and Francesca Galloway, Court Paintings from Persia and India, London, 2016, p.98, no.36.
Provenance
Sotheby's, New York, 17 June 1993, lot 148