Page 124 - Indian, Himalaya and Asian Art Bonhams Setp 2015
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AN ILLUSTRATION FROM A RAMAYANA SERIES: RAMA SLAYS KUMBHAKARNA
Guler, circa 1830-50
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper; with Lanka in the background, to kill the invading army of Rama and Laskmana who had come to
Rama draws his final crescent arrow to decapitate Kumbhakarna, rescue abducted Sita. After Kumbhakarna decimated the monkey
whose severed limbs crush teams of monkeys below, while yet more army of Surgriva and Hanuman, Rama joined the battle. He fired
led by Hunuman and Sugriva heroically dash to subdue the great countless arrows with curved crescent points that dismembered
demon drawing his last exhausted breath. each limb.
Image: 11 1/8 x 16 1/4 in. (28.2 x 41.3 cm); Folio: 12 1/2 x 17 3/4 in.
(31.7 x 45.2 cm) For another page from this series now in the Los Angeles Museum
$15,000 - 20,000 of Art, see Pal in Craven (ed.), Ramayana Paintings from the Pahari
Tradition, p. 100, no. 9.
From Book 6, Canto 67. Kumbhakarna was one of the younger
brothers of Ravana who used to stay awake for six months and Provenance
then sleep for six months. He was awoken prematurely by Ravana Sotheby’s, New York, 17 June 1993, lot 148
122 | BONHAMS
