By Jeremy Lovell
LONDON (Reuters) - 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
India's northern Rajasthan province 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 September 14, is
accompanied by costumes, puppets, ornaments and textiles to
illustrate how deeply embedded the story is in Asian culture.
(Editing by Paul Casciato)
