Ramayana - Kerala Mural Archive

Detail Photos

Deity: Sreeraman Location: Mattancherry Palace Theme: Ramayana Visual Feature: Background pattern Visual Feature: Facial expression detail Visual Feature: Hand gesture (mudra)Visual Feature: Ornamentation

This panel is a continuation of scenes from Aranyakaanda. There is Rama, Sita and Lakshmana sitting in a hut in Panchavati. The next scene, Rama is shown hunting a golden-colored deer, who turns into Maricha, the demon. On the upper panel, Sita, who is left alone, is approached by a sage looking for alms. In the next scene, the sage turns into the huge, fierce Ravana, who kidnaps Sita and flies to Lanka on his Pushpaka Vimana. On the way, he is attacked by Jatayu, whose wings are being cut off by Ravana. Next panel shows Rama and Lakshmana being attacked by Kabandha, the demon. Lakshmana's hands are raised, attempting to attack Kabandha and get out of his clutches. A huge portion of this panel is also damaged.

Iconography

Primary Deity/Figure: Sreeraman
Secondary Figures: Jatayu, Kabandha, Lakshmanan, Marichan, Ravanan, Sita
Iconographic Form: Sreeraman (Vishnu's reincarnation)
Iconographic Attributes: Green-skinned Rama wearing a red upper jacket and a yellow lower dhoti, or lower garment, seating inside a hut. Sita, golden-skinned, sits on his lap. One hand of Rama is curled around her breast. The other hand is held up in vyakhyana mudra. Lakshmana stands guard outside the hut. He has a bow and he is golden-skinned, wearing a green upper garment, and has a bow and arrow in either of his hands. The second scene consists of green-skinned Rama chasing after a deer with a bow in his hand. He has let go of an arrow, which has hit the golden-colored deer, whose head portion is depicted as getting transformed into a green-skinned demon's face with huge eyes and a wide open mouth. This is Maricha, who has turned himself into the figure of a golden deer. In the scene above, there is Sita, golden-skinned, holding a vessel of food, putting it on the alms basket of a sage, who appeared before her. The sage is golden-skinned, clean-shaven, with rudraksha mala and a stick in one hand. In the next scene, golden-skinned Sita is kidnapped and seated on a pushpaka vimana. The wheels of the vimana are visible. Ravana takes his original form as a green-colored, multi-armed asura with fangs and an open mouth. He is cutting the wings of Jatayu using his sword, Chandrahasa. Jatayu is white-skinned, with huge eyes and a red beak. He is wearing a red upper garment and a crown. The next scene shows a huge green-colored monster with a mouth on its stomach trying to devour Rama and Lakshmana. Lakshmana, golden-skinned, with green upper garment, holds a sword in his hand, trying to free himself from the clutches of the monster, headless monster Kabandha.
Rasa: Shanta

Spatial & Architectural

Temple: Palace interior
Zone within Temple: Ramayana Chamber
Position in Pradakshina Sequence: Not Applicable
Adjacent Panels: Ramayanam and Ramayanam

Narrative

Textual Source: Ramayana
Mythological Tale: Rama, Lakshmana and Sita continue to stay in Panchavati. One day Sita sees a particularly beautiful golden skin deer running through the forest. She asks Rama to capture the deer for her. Rama goes in search of the deer and hunts it down. As the deer gets hit by Rama's arrow, it turns into a demon called Maricha and mimics the sound of Rama's cry of distress. Hearing Rama's sounds from the forest, Sita asks Lakshmana to go look for him. Lakshmana draws a boundary line called Lakshmana Rekha and asks Sita not to step outside of it. She agrees to it and Lakshmana leaves her alone in the hut and went out in search of Rama. When he reaches Rama, he realizes that he has been tricked by Maricha and that someone is about to kidnap Sita. Back in the hut, Sita is visited by an ascetic who begs for alms. She returns with a bowl of food grain and offers it to the ascetic, who asks her to cross the Lakshmana Rekha and give the alms to him. As soon as she crosses the Lakshmana Rekha, she gets kidnapped by Ravana, who transforms into his original form as a green-skinned, multi-armed demon and carries her away in the Pushpaka vimana. On the way to Lanka, Ravana meets with Jatayu, who tries to rescue Sita from Ravana's clutches, but Ravana overpowers the latter and cuts off his wings. Rama and Lakshmana, who went out in search of Sita, finds Jatayu lying wounded, who reveals the truth to them. They further go out in search of Sita and meets with Kabandha, the monster without any head, who tries to devour them both, but they defeat him and continue their search for Sita.
Episode: Aranya Kandam
Position within Narrative Sequence: 4 out of 10

Condition & Documentation

Condition: Fair
Deterioration Type: Plaster loss
Restoration Status: Partially restored
Documentation Type: DSLR full panel
Permission Basis: ASI permission
Date of Documentation: 01/08/2024
Artist: Unknown
Identifier: MCP_P032
Rights / Notes: These images may not be reproduced, redistributed, or used for commercial purposes without prior permission.