Rama, Sita and Lakhshmana

ca. 1840

Painting, in opaque watercolour and gold on cardboard, Rama, Sita and Lakhshmana at the hermitage, illustration to a Ramayana series. The sage Agastya receives Rama, Sita and Lakshmana in his hermitage of Panchavati in the great southern forest at the source of the Godaveri. The three exiles sit on the sword before the sage, clad in leaves; in the background are two ashramas amid the forest-covered Vindhya mountains, in the foreground the river Godaveri.