Sita walks with hermit (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 7.6)
Related media
Learn more
- Search LEARN NC for art, Bangkok, Emerald Buddha Temple, hermits, murals, paintings, Ramayana, Sita, and Thailand.
In the classroom
- See our collection of articles on visual literacy for ideas on using photographs meaningfully in the classroom.
Sita walks through the forest with a hermit in this mural detail from the Emerald Buddha Temple.
The crowned Sita walks with her right hand bent across her chest. She follows just behind a moutached hermit who carries a walking stick and a palm leaf fan. They both wear inticately painted cloth sarongs. The hermit wears a matching tunic draped over one shoulder and a headscarf. In this portrayal, Sita appears as narrow-waisted as ever despite although she is pregnant.
In the Ramayana, Sita is unharmed by Laksman even though the jealous Rama has ordered Laksman to kill her. Laksman substitutes a deer’s heart in place of Sita’s as “proof” of her death, which he shows to Rama.
Unharmed, Sita wanders alone into the forest where she is found by a kindly hermit. The hermit takes her to his forest home for safety, and he cares for her during her pregnancy.
This image was photographed in August 1984.
