LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Rama's regret
In The Ramayana, page 7.9
Rama sits on a riverbank with four women, trying to forget Sita, as portrayed on a mural at the Emerald Buddha Temple. Rama sits at the corner of a riverbank, holding a piece of food in his right hand and gazing out at the water. A young and beautiful woman...
By Lorraine Aragon.
Ravana dies
In The Ramayana, page 6.9
In this mural detail at the Emerald Buddha Temple, both the women and Ravana are dressed in royal Siamese clothes and crowns painted with gold leaf paint. The long-haired and fair young women who sit on opposite sides of Ravana's body hold up their bent left...
By Lorraine Aragon.
The bow of Siva
In The Ramayana, page 1.4
Here, Rama draws an arrow across his bow at a Ramayana dance performance held at Yogyakarta in July 1986. The Rama dancer wears a golden crown and a gold-trimmed red sash across his bare chest. He also wears the "broken sword" pattern batik of Yogyakarta's...
By Lorraine Aragon.
Ravana is wounded
In The Ramayana, page 6.7
Ravana sits wounded by an arrow shot by Rama, as depicted in a mural scene at the Emerald Buddha Temple. Sitting on the ground beside his chariot, Ravana holds himself up with his left arm as he looks down at the arrow poking out of his chest. Ravana is shown...
By Lorraine Aragon.
The Ramayana
The Hindu epic The Ramayana is retold through the mural, painting, and dance of Southeast Asia.
Format: book (multiple pages)
The demon king
In The Ramayana, page 2.5
Ravana sits on a palace platform with two of his wives, as seen on a mural at the Emerald Buddha Temple. Ravana has one arm around each wife's neck. The wives both have their right hands held to their faces, as if in grief. Another demon, perhaps a relative...
By Lorraine Aragon.
Hanuman enlists his relatives
In The Ramayana, page 3.3
Seven differently colored monkeys sit on the ground with three of their crowned monkey kings in this detail from a mural at the Emerald Buddha Temple. The monkeys are painted in shades of blue, purple, green, brown, and black. Their three kings wearing tall...
By Lorraine Aragon.
The gods look on
In The Ramayana, page 6.12
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...
By Lorraine Aragon.
Rama sits on a riverbank with four women, trying to forget Sita (Thai Ramayana mural)
Rama sits on a riverbank with four women, trying to forget Sita  (Thai Ramayana mural)
Rama sits on a riverbank with four women, trying to forget Sita, as portrayed on a mural at the Emerald Buddha Temple. Rama sits at the corner of a riverbank, holding a piece of food in his right hand and gazing out at the water. A young and beautiful woman...
Format: image/photograph
A forest hermit
In The Ramayana, page 2.4
The forest hermit's respected position as a wise sage is shown by his elevated position sitting on a stone platform at left. Rama, Laksman, and Sita kneel on the ground at right. The hermit holds a palm leaf fan on a long handle. The hermit's stone platform...
By Lorraine Aragon.
Sita sits cross-legged wearing royal Javanese dress in Ramayana dance at Yogyakarta
Sita sits cross-legged wearing royal Javanese dress in Ramayana dance at Yogyakarta
Sita sits cross-legged wearing royal Javanese dress in a Ramayana dance performed at Yogyakarta in July 1986. Her eyes gaze forward and her hands rest overlapping on her lap. Her bare toes are flexed. To the Javanese this pose is intended to suggest calm refinement...
Format: image/photograph
Brown Monkey King striding with sword (Thai Ramayana mural)
Brown Monkey King striding with sword (Thai Ramayana mural)
In this mural from the Emerald Buddha Temple, the Brown Monkey King strides boldly with his right hand grasping his downward sword. The monkey king's head and legs are shown in profile but his torso is rotated so that his shoulders face front. The Brown Monkey...
Format: image/photograph
Sadayu attacks Ravana's chariot
In The Ramayana, page 2.11
A twenty-armed and ten-headed demon king Ravana fights the eagle king Sadayu in a detail from an Indian Ramayana painting. Sadayu on the left is trying to pick out one of Ravana's eyes from one of his ten heads, while Ravana is using his twenty arms to wave...
By Lorraine Aragon.
Two wives mourn beside dying Ravana (Thai Ramayana mural)
Two wives mourn beside dying Ravana (Thai Ramayana mural)
Two beautiful wives mourn beside the body of Ravana as he dies. In this mural detail at the Emerald Buddha Temple, both the women and Ravana are dressed in royal Siamese clothes and crowns painted with gold leaf paint. The long-haired and fair young women...
Format: image/photograph
Rama dancer draws bow and arrow at Ramayana performance in Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Rama dancer draws bow and arrow at Ramayana performance in Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Rama draws an arrow across his bow at a Ramayana dance performance held at Yogyakarta in July 1986. The Rama dancer wears a golden crown and a gold-trimmed red sash across his bare chest. He also wears the "broken sword" pattern batik of Yogyakarta's royal...
Format: image/photograph
Demon king Ravana with two wives (Thai Ramayana mural)
Demon king Ravana with two wives (Thai Ramayana mural)
The demon king Ravana sits on a palace platform with two of his wives, as seen on a mural at the Emerald Buddha Temple. Ravana has one arm around each wife's neck. The wives both have their right hands held to their faces, as if in grief. Another demon, perhaps...
Format: image/photograph
Ravana sits beside chariot wounded by arrow (Thai Ramayana mural)
Ravana sits beside chariot wounded by arrow (Thai Ramayana mural)
Ravana sits wounded by an arrow shot by Rama, as depicted in a mural scene at the Emerald Buddha Temple. Sitting on the ground beside his chariot, Ravana holds himself up with his left arm as he looks down at the arrow poking out of his chest. Ravana is shown...
Format: image/photograph
Kneeling princes hear about plans for Sita's marriage (Thai Ramayana mural)
Kneeling princes hear about plans for Sita's marriage (Thai Ramayana mural)
A Ramayana mural in the Emerald Buddha Temple shows princes gathered to hear how they might compete for Sita's hand in marriage. Young men kneel on a blue tiled floor in a walled courtyard around two small roofed pavillions where announcement of the competition...
Format: image/photograph
Monkey allies of Rama sit together on the ground (Thai Ramayana mural)
Monkey allies of Rama sit together on the ground (Thai Ramayana mural)
Seven differently colored monkeys sit on the ground with three of their crowned monkey kings in this detail from a mural at the Emerald Buddha Temple. The monkeys are painted in shades of blue, purple, green, brown, and black. Their three kings wearing tall...
Format: image/photograph
Hanuman charms Ravana's mermaid daughter (Thai Ramayana mural)
Hanuman charms Ravana's mermaid daughter (Thai Ramayana mural)
Hanuman charms Ravana's mermaid daughter, as seen in a detail on a painted mural at the Emerald Buddha Temple. In his royal Siamese clothing, Hanuman stands on the tail of the beautiful mermaid as she floats in gentle blue waves. Hanuman holds the mermaid's...
Format: image/photograph