Rama and Lakshmana ferried in a riverboat: An illustration to a Ramayana series
Calcutta, circa 1860
US$ 2,600 - 3,900
22 Oct 2019, 11:00 BST
opaque watercolour on European blue tinted paper watermarked with the date 1860
180 x 310 mm.
Fomerly in the collection of Terence McInerney.
Rama and Laskhmana are seated with two sages and a wealthy merchant on a narrow riverboat. This story, which is not found in Valmiki's Ramayana, derives from the Tulsi Das version, the Ramcharitamanas, which was popular in Bengal. The crossing of the river depicted here is the conclusion of a celebrated episode from the Ayodha Kanda (Book One). Rama arrives at the bank of the Ganga and calls for the boat but the boatman surprises him by answering: 'I know your magic power: everyone says that the dust of your lotus feet is a charm for making man. A rock on which it fell became a beautiful woman, and wood is no harder than stone! Should my boat in like manner be turned into a sage's wife, the ferry will be closed and the boat lost, which is the support of my whole family. I have no other means of living. If, my lord, you are bent on crossing the river, you must allow me first to wash your feet. After bathing your feet, I will take you on board, but I will not accept any toll. I tell you the truth, O Rama, swearing by yourself and Dasaratha – Lakshmana may shoot me with his arrows, but I will not take you across, gracious lord, until I have bathed your feet'. Rama smiled and agreed to have his feet washed, and said: 'Do anything to save your boat - bring water at once and bathe my feet. Time has been lost: take me across.'
A painting from Chapra in Saran, a district north of the Ganges from Patna, in the India Office Library, depicting the moment before Rama steps into the ferry, is illustrated in Mildred Archer, Company Paintings in the India Office Library, London 1972, pl. 43. In this painting, the ferryman has placed a basin in front of Rama and requests respectfully to be allowed to wash his feet.
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