Ravana forcibly abducting Sita and Jatayu – the Great Bird - attempting her release

The folio depicts the event of the abduction of Sita, the wife of the prince of Ayodhya, Rama, in the epic Ramayana. Learning that Sita is alone in her hut in the forest, Ravana, the king of demons, disguised as a poor wandering mendicant, arrives at Sita’s abode pretending to seek alms. Ravana then seizes Sita and assumes his own ferocious form of a ten-headed demon with twenty hands.

Dragging Sita, Ravana flies off with her in his magical air chariot pulled by mules, with an anguished Sita wailing for help. Hearing Sita’s distressed cries, Jatayu, an old but courageous eagle, comes forward to help her, viciously attacking Ravana with his claws, wings and beak.

The artist depicts the scene in an idyllic setting - the soft grassy ground is punctuated by small rocks in dull pinks, while a stream of water gently flows below. An azure blue sky sweeps above a thicket of lush trees with dainty flowering creepers that cascade down softly swaying in the breeze. Small clusters of grass and flowering shrubs adorn the rocks.

The setting presents a contrast to the scene of the abduction. In a continuous narration, the artist depicts Ravana in the guise of a pious Brahman, snatching Sita, who calls for help on the bottom right, while on the left Ravana has transformed himself into his true form and attempts to flee with Sita in his airborne chariot while Jatayu bites Ravana, tearing the flesh of his hand with his sharp beak inflicting a bloody injury.

Little details suggest the austere life led by the royals in exile in the forest. Simple clay pots and utensils, firewood for cooking food, and lotus leaves that will serve as plates are kept in the front yard of their small hut. Robes made of leaves hang in the hut and outside on an assemblage of branches that serve as a clothesline.

While the Chamba style of painting is influenced by other Pahari idioms such as those of Guler and Kangra, it is marked with certain stylistic tendencies that distinguish it from these schools. The profiles of Ravana and Sita are rendered in almost a straight line from the forehead to the tip of the nose, almost without any angle, long almond shaped eyes, and long arching eyebrows, the particular angle between the nose and the lip and relatively less modelling on the face are features found in late Chamba painting. The squat figures are also an attribute, as is the particular shade of blue sky and the manner of rendering of the rocks with tufts of grass jutting out.