ARTS OF INDIA

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AN ILLUSTRATION TO THE LANKAKANDA OF THE SHANGRI RAMAYANA SERIES:
RAMA AND LAKSHMANA BOUND BY INDRAJIT’S WEAPON
POSSIBLY NURPUR OR BAHU, PUNJAB HILLS, EARLY 18TH CENTURY
Opaque pigments on paper, the two brothers shown lying still holding their bow and bound with snakes,
the monkey and bear generals looking over and conversing with Jambavan and Vibishana, the monkey
army on the move in the background, in white rules, with wide orange borders, with fy sheet
8¬ x 12ºin. (22 x 31.2cm.)
£15,000-20,000 $22,000-28,000
€19,000-25,000
On the frst day of the battle of Lanka, Indrajit despatched the vanara armies of Sugriva. Impatient
to avenge his father and brother’s death he called for Rama and Lakshmana to come forth on the
battlefeld. Using a powerful weapon consisting of a multitude of snakes he shackled and subdued
them. Both fell to the ground unable to move or breathe. Hanuman, the monkey general, called upon
Garuda, Vishnu’s vehicle, to intervene and free the two brothers from their reptilian bonds.
The ambitious project of the Shangri Ramayana included several illustrations of this episode in the
fourth book known as the Lankakanda or Yuddhakanda. For another illustration of this same episode in
the Lankakanda from the Shangri Ramayana see Andrew Topsfeld Ed., In the Realm of Gods and Kings:
Arts of India, London, 2004, no.49, pp. 130-31). A further folio from the same Shangri Ramayana series
was sold at Christie’s New York, 19 March 2013, lot 309.
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