Rama and Lakshmana taking leave of mothers and father Raja Dasharatha before leaving for exile

A scene from the Ramayana, the folio depicts Rama, the prince of Ayodhya accompanied by his brother Lakshmana, taking leave of his parents to commence an exile of fourteen years. Rama decides to honour the unconditional promise made by his father king Dashratha in a moment of desperate weakness in a battle, to his wife and Rama’s stepmother Kaikeyi.

As the painter lays the scene out he weaves the incidents in a continuous narrative. In the top left register Rama and Lakshmana seek the blessings of Lakshmana’s mother and Rama’s stepmother Sumitra. Rama falls at her feet and Sumitra gracefully bends to bless him. In the lower foreground, Rama seeks the blessings of his father Dashratha, and his mother Kaushalya. The artist expresses the emotional states of the protagonists with subtle understanding. As Rama bows down before his father, Dashratha, stunned by grief over the impending separation from his beloved son, seems to half willingly raise his hand in a blessing. Dashratha presents a moving picture, as one who is plunged in unspeakable gloom and despair. Rama’s mother Queen Kaushalya inclines her head gazing downwards in a stirring gesture of resigned grief. A pall of gloom surrounds the palace, the palace women look around dumbstruck at the turn of the events. The team of horses of the chariot that wait to take the young princes, droop their heads, echoing the mood of despondency of the palace within.

The artist deftly conveys the emotions of the characters by purposeful inclinations of the head or the body, slump of the shoulders, a slight droop of the mouth or the questioning look in the eyes. Through these subtle details the states of mind are perspicuously illuminated.

On the right, the exiles leave the palace on a spirited team of horses, ignoring the poignant gesture of a woman who stretches out her hand in a futile attempt to reach out to the departing princes.

There is much meticulous detailing of the architecture, the textiles, floor coverings, ornaments and the rendering of faces and figures. The drawing reveals the hand of a master in the exquisite rendering of the rolled up and tied curtains over the entrance door or the manner in which the ropes of the canopy over the porch tautly tug at it stretching it, the remarkable way in which the drapery and folds of the clothes are limned or the delicate manner in which the vetiver grass curtain is executed.