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| Hanuman meets a sea monster on his way to Lanka |
THE MEWAR RAMAYANA WITH 377 ILLUSTRATIONS
The paintings in the manuscripts were created by the artists Sahib Din, Manohar and others.
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| Rama and Lakshmana meet the vanaras in the forest |
Illustrated in the Mewar-Deccani style. Started in 1649, under Rana Jagat SIngh in Udaipur.
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| Rama decapitates Ravana's heads in battle |
Work on it continued under his successor Rana Raj Singh in 1653. In 1722, the Bala Kanda, the first book of the Ramayana was completed during the reign of Maharana Sangram Singh.
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| Rama and Lakshmana with their vanara hosts |
Maharana Bhim Singh of Mewar presented James Tod, the political agent of the East India Company four volumes of Jagat Singh's Ramayana in 1820. On his return to London, Tod presented them to the Duke of Sussex, a younger son of King George III. Upon the Duke's demise, his vast library was auctioned off and the volumes then ended up in the British Library.
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| Rama and Lakshmana meet Sugriva |
The paintings are in a unique Mewari-Deccan style, with bright colours and multiple representations, with multiple scenes in some of the paintings.
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| Rama, Sita and Lakshmana take leave from Dasharatha before going into exile |
Other parts of the Ramayana remained with the royal family and were
transferred to the Rajasthan Oriental Research Institute and then to its
headquarters at Jodhpur. Some parts of it were at the Prince of Wales
Museum in Bombay, later renamed the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu
Sangrahalya, Mumbai (CSMVS).
For nearly 150 years, the largest collection remained in the British Library and was never presented in public.
The remaining folios were in private collections in India and a few pages in the India Office library in London.
In 2014, after a three-year effort sponsored by the Jamsetji Tata Trust, the World Collections Programme, and the Friends of the British Library, the entire collection of paintings has been
digitized and is now open to the public for the first time.
The entire manuscript can now be viewed at www.bl.uk/ramayana
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| Rama and Sita build a hut in the forest |
For nearly 150 years, the largest collection remained in the British Library and was never presented in public.
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| Ravana being surrounded in his palace |
The remaining folios were in private collections in India and a few pages in the India Office library in London.
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| Sugriva challenges Vali to fight him |
In 2014, after a three-year effort sponsored by the Jamsetji Tata Trust, the World Collections Programme, and the Friends of the British Library, the entire collection of paintings has been
digitized and is now open to the public for the first time.
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| Valmiki narrating the Ramayana to Lav and Kush |
The entire manuscript can now be viewed at www.bl.uk/ramayana
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