Rama’s brothers Bharata and Shatrughna set out from Ayodhya to find Rama and Lakshmana in the forest to inform them of the death of their father Dasharatha, from Chapter 77 of the Ayodhya Kanda (Book of Ayodhya) of a Ramayana (Rama’s Journey)

c. 1775–80

Rama’s brothers Bharata and Shatrughna set out from Ayodhya to find Rama and Lakshmana in the forest to inform them of the death of their father Dasharatha, from Chapter 77 of the Ayodhya Kanda (Book of Ayodhya) of a Ramayana (Rama’s Journey), c. 1775–80. Northern India, Pahari Region, Himachal Pradesh, Rajput Kingdom of Kangra. Gum tempera and gold on paper; page: 24.9 x 35.7 cm (9 13/16 x 14 1/16 in.); image: 20.5 x 31.5 cm (8 1/16 x 12 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2018.119 The artist has masterfully set the somber procession against the stark white walls of the city. In the middle of the page wearing gold crowns, the two brothers of the exiled hero Rama are setting out from the capital to find him, hoping to persuade him to return now that their father has died. The three queens of Dasharatha are riding in the covered palanquins.