Page 177 - March 23 2022 Boinghams NYC Indian and Himalayan Art

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A ILLUSTRATION FROM A RAMAYANA SERIES:
RAMA RECEIVES VIBHISHANA FROM ACROSS
THE OCEAN
NORTH INDIA, PUNJAB HILLS, CHAMBA, 1800-1810
Folio 10Ω x 14¿in. (36 x 26.7cm.)
Image 8¬ x 12æin. (22 x 31.8cm.)
$25,000-35,000

PROVENANCE:
Formerly in the collection of Dr Alma Latifi, CIE, OBE (1879-
1959), London, acquired between the 1930s and 1950s, by
repute.
Private collection, London.
Ravana prepares for war against Rama, with the full support
of his court save for his brother Vibhishana. Vibhishana has
been taking notice to the bad omens around Lanka since
Sita’s captivity and advises Ravana to return Sita and pacify
tensions with Rama and his army. After Ravana’s severe
and continuous rebukes of Vibhishana’s advice, Vibhishana
defects from Lanka to join Rama’s forces. In the present
painting, Vibhishana is completing his leap over the ocean;
Sugiriva, naturally distrustful of the defector, interrogates
Vibhishana as he hovers above the swirling eddies. Hanuman,
convinced of Vibhishana’s honest intentions, welcomes him
to shore and brings him to Rama. Vibhishana falls at Rama’s
feet, telling him of all the mistreatment at Ravana’s court and
describes in detail all of the defenses and strategies of the
Lanka military. He also clues Rama into a solution for crossing
the ocean: summoning the Lord of the Water. Rama does so
by firing flaming arrows into the sea and Lord of the Water,
along with the river goddesses Ganga and Indus, emerges
from the sea to meet Rama. The continuous narrative of the
scenes are divided by troops of bear and monkey soldiers,
sitting between the hillocks and armed with thick branches.
A complete military band of simian musicians performs in
the foreground.
This painting represents a scene from the fifth book, the
Sundarakanda, of the Ramayana. There are only fifteen known
paintings of this style, all from the same book, suggesting the
group may have been commissioned to fill a gap in an existing
series. It would appear that the group likely comes from a
progression of Chamba series first commissioned in 1760
and discontinued in 1764 after the death of Raja Umed Singh;
the series was then continued about fifteen years later, circa
1780-5, in a series for the third book, the Arayanakanda, which
advances the style closer to the present series. The present
chapter is attributed to circa 1800-1810, with consideration
to stylistic characteristics that can be attributed to Garhwal
workshops that permeated into Chamba around the Gurkha
conquest of 1804. For further discussion on the series,
illustrated in full, see S. Ray and J. P. Losty, 15 Paintings
Depicting the Adventures of Hanuman on Lanka from the
Ramayana, London, 2016.

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