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Gods watch Sita's fire ordeal from above (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 6.12)
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Learn more
- Search LEARN NC for art, Bangkok, deities, Emerald Buddha Temple, gods, justice, murals, paintings, Ramayana, and Thailand.
In the classroom
- See our collection of articles on visual literacy for ideas on using photographs meaningfully in the classroom.
A group of gods sit and watch Sita’s fire ordeal from above, as depicted in a mural detail from the Emerald Buddha Temple.
The Hindu gods of the Ramayana, all dressed in royal Siamese clothing and tall gold crowns, are shown sitting together in groups on boulders located above the place where Sita is undergoing a test of her purity and fidelity to Rama by standing in fire.
The four-faced, four-armed God of Justice sits on a square carpet in the center, while a green-skinned god sits on another carpet nearby. These two gods, like the ones in the group to the right, are painted with bubble-like halos around their heads.
Among the other immortals sitting around them are some on the left who have human forms on top but animal legs and golden tails below. All the gods appear calm and content because they know that Sita has been faithful to Rama, and so will not be harmed by the fire.
This image was photographed in August 1984.
