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Ravana instructs mermaid daughter to ruin Rama's bridge (Thai Ramayana mural)

About this photograph

Creator
Margery H. Freeman
Date created
Unknown
Location
Bangkok, Thailand
License
This photograph copyright ©2006. Terms of use

See this photograph in context

  • The Ramayana: The Hindu epic The Ramayana is retold through the mural, painting, and dance of Southeast Asia. (Page 4.9)

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Ravana instructs mermaid daughter to ruin Rama's bridge (Thai Ramayana mural at Emerald Buddha Temple)

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The demon king Ravana instructs his mermaid daughter to ruin Rama’s bridge to Lanka, as seen on a painted mural at the Emerald Buddha Temple.

The royally clothed Ravana (with green skin) gestures with four arms as he jumps with a wide-legged stance from a covered dock onto a stone in the water. His beautiful mermaid daughter rests on the stone below, her fish tail arched to the side as she listens respectfully with her hands in prayer position. Both figures wear tall gold Thai crowns and matching gold jewelry.

A white heron or igret bird walks on a stone in the background, and a starfish is visible on a stone in the left foreground. Sparkling white waves wash gently against the rocks in the water.

At this point in the Ramayana, Ravana orders his mermaid daughter to call together all the fishes of the sea to remove the bridge stones that Rama’s monkey allies are laying down.

This image was photographed in August 1984.