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Sita appears to be dead after jealous Rama orders her killed (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 7.4)

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Sita appears to be dead after jealous Rama orders her killed (Thai Ramayana mural)

Sizes available: 683×1024 | 333×500

In this detail from a mural at the Emerald Buddha Temple, Sita appears to be dead after the jealous Rama orders her killed. Sita lies on her back upon a palace pavillion platform. Her left leg is bent but her other limbs are extended. A bearded hermit sits cross-legged on a pavillion veranda behind her, his hands set in prayer.

Even after Sita has been saved from her abduction by the demon king Ravana, her life with Rama is not blissful. Instead, Rama continues to suspect that they baby she carries was fathered by Ravana. When Rama finds a sketch of Ravana that Sita has drawn, tricked by a demon, he orders Sita taken and killed. The gods, however, protect Sita so that she falls limp as if dead, but really is not.

This image was photographed in August 1984.