Ancient Rama epic pictures in unique exhibition

Thu, May 15 08:11 PM

By Jeremy Lovell

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Nearly 120 ancient paintings charting the life, struggles and eventual triumph of the legendary Indian king Rama go on show to the public on Friday for the first time at the British Library.

The highly detailed and lavishly illustrated pictures which date from the 17th century were formerly bound together in book form and available only for scholarly study.

"I am thrilled that we are able to display the magnificent Mewar Ramayana manuscript, one of the finest manuscripts of the Ramayana epic ever produced," said exhibition curator Jerry Losty.

"This is one of the great secular texts of world literature. Its influence spread not just across India but the whole of South East Asia and endures to this day," he said at a preview on Thursday of "The Ramayana -- love and valour in India's great epic".

The story is still retold regularly in films, dances, songs and puppet shows.

The panels, each accompanied by a text explanation of what is happening and its significance to the story, detail each step in the life of Rama who is considered to be the seventh incarnation of Vishnu, the supreme Hindu god.

Originally comprising 400 paintings and 24,000 verses of text in Sanskrit, the pictures were bound in seven volumes of which the British Library has four and a half.

The paintings, which originate in the Rajput court of Rajasthan have been removed from the bound volumes for conservation reasons, allowing them to be put on public display -- albeit in quite low light.

Each of the richly ornate paintings tells a sequence of events meaning that one figure can recur several times in the same panel.

The story, believed to date from 500 BC, starts with the early life of Rama and his brothers, his marriage to Sita, their 14-year exile in the forest and her abduction by the Lankan demon king Ravana.

There follows Rama's alliance with the monkeys and particularly the general Hanuman, his discovery of Sita's whereabouts, the epic battles to rescue her and their triumphal return to Ayodhya for his coronation.

"If there is one word that sums this story up it is righteousness -- doing your duty no matter what," said Losty. "But it is also about the triumph of good over evil which is why it was so important and still resonates today."

In Hinduism Rama, who the story says went on to rule for 10,000 years in an age of enlightenment, is referred to as the perfect man while Sita as the reincarnation of the goddess Lakshmi is the perfect woman.

The free exhibition, which runs to Sept. 14, is accompanied by costumes, puppets, ornaments and textiles to illustrate how deeply embedded the story is in Asian culture.

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