Cover art · garden

Ravana addresses Sita in the garden of Lanka, from Chapters 53 and 54 of the Aranya Kanda (Book of the Forest) of a Ramayana (Rama’s Journey)

Unknown artist, c. 1725.

Ravana addresses Sita in the garden of Lanka, from Chapters 53 and 54 of the Aranya Kanda (Book of the Forest) of a Ramayana (Rama’s Journey)
Ravana addresses Sita in the garden of Lanka, from Chapters 53 and 54 of the Aranya Kanda (Book of the Forest) of a Ramayana (Rama’s Journey) — Cleveland Museum of Art

Using it on a cover

The print file prints up to 11.3 x 8.1 in at 300 ppi — enough for a full 6 x 9 in front cover. Wider than a 6 x 9 cover: crop about 53% of the width, or use it as a wraparound across back and spine.

About the work

The viewer is cut off from Lanka by the surrounding sea and the city’s golden walls in this expansive composition probably intended for courtly display This choice of perspective cleverly emphasizes the captivity of the Sita, faithful wife of the hero Rama. She kneels beneath an ashoka tree, guarded by demonesses. The princess’s abductor, the 10-headed and 20-armed demon lord of Lanka, Ravana, appears twice in the image. In the palace, he consults his council of minions. At the right, he hears Sita’s refusal to marry him. Ravana neither harms her, nor sets her free.

More garden art

Sources & data