Ravana kidnaps Sita

Ravana poses as an elderly hermit to trick Sita. When she does not leave with him willingly, he abducts her and carries her away in his chariot. (Learn more)

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This Indian painting shows Ravana at left posing as an elderly hermit with Sita and then, at right, in his original mult-headed form, abducting her in his chariot.

Sita is depicted wearing an orange Indian sari and she stands outside a very modest thatch dwelling near two ceramic pots. The hermit wears a white loincloth with turban and he carries a long walking stick in his right hand. Note that the Indian Sita is depicted as living in the forest in far less luxury than the Thai Sita as portrayed in temple murals.

Here we see a ten-headed, bearded Ravana gripping Sita as she leans out of the back of his chariot. A plump prancing horse pulls Ravana’s chariot, which is driven by a yellow-skinned demon holding a whip over his head in his left hand.

Learn more about India, Ramayana, Ravana, Sita, abduction, art, artistic conventions, demons, hermits, and paintings.

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