In the Sundarakanda or Book V of the Ramayana, Hanuman makes his mighty leap across the ocean. He has found Sita, wreaked havoc on Lanka and now jumps back across the ocean to rejoin Jambavan, Angada and the other monkey leaders who were anxiously awaiting his return on Mount Mahendra. The ocean here is treated rather like a mighty river hurtling down between the two landmasses and teeming with fish and strange sea creatures. Lanka is depicted as a series of conical hills dotted with trees. Hanuman is depicted as he is welcomed back by Jambavan, Angada and the other monkey leaders, who pat him approvingly while he basks in their attention. The five figures are then depicted once more and much smaller as they depart to bring the good tidings of Sita's discovery back to Rama.

The earlier master of the Aranyakanda, whose depiction of the mighty Ganges as the exiles are ferried across it in a diminutive boat between landmasses from top left to bottom right, has clearly influenced our artist in his depiction of the ocean and its shores.(1) Small conical hills painted in light brown or green mark the far shore of the Ganges, whereas the nearside is a close-up view of the plants on the edge of the river. Our painting has the same idea of the conical hills in the distance, here painted green with dotted trees on the nearer hills, but only bigger trees in the ridges between them. The near side of the ocean shows all the larger hills covered in small trees and blossoming plants. The artist carefully interprets the text, for as the mighty monkey climbed the tallest of the mountains,

Mount Arishta, he caused avalanches to fall down the mountain side, and as he leapt 'pressed under foot by that monkey, the mountain giant re-echoing to the cries of countless denizens sank into the bosom of the earth ... that mighty hill, measuring forty miles in extent and thirty in height, was levelled to the earth with its trees and lofty summits.'(2) Here Mount Arishta is sinking into a large black pit, to the surprise of one tiger, and the mountain is already smaller than its neighbours.

Noticeable here are the relatively thin washes of paint depicting the hills which, combined with the almost military precision of the placing of the trees, suggest the painting is somewhat later than the earlier series. It also seems later than the painting showing Hanuman crossing the ocean to Lanka earlier in the book, which is one of the most powerful in the second part of the series, showing Hanuman leaping from craggy mountains on the left and touching briefly on Mount Mainaka before sailing on as it were into infinity out of the back of the picture, diminishing in size each time.(3)

(1) See Britschgi, J. and Fischer, E., 'Rama und Sita: das Ramayana in der Malerei Indiens,' Museum Rietberg, Zurich, 2008, no. 13; Goswamy, B.N., and Fischer, E., 'The First Generation after Manaku and Nainsukh of Guler', in Beach et al., 2011, pp. 687-718, fig. 12.

(2) Valmiki, 'The Ramayana of Valmiki,' translated by Hari Prasad Shastri, Shanti Sadan, London, 1952-59, vol. 2, pp. 471-72.
(3) Losty, J.P., 'Paintings from the Royal Courts of India, Francesca Galloway, 2008, no. 37.

Provenance

Publications

Valmiki, Ramayana illustre par les miniatures indiennes du XVIe au XIXe siecle, Editions Diane de Selliers, Paris, 2011, vol. V, p. 141
Losty, J.P., A Mystical Realm of Love: Pahari Paintings from the Eva and Konrad Seitz Collection, Francesca Galloway, London, 2017, no.21, pp120-121