Where Does Any Depiction of Ramayana Belong?

Where Does Any Depiction of Ramayana Belong?

It definitely belongs in a Ram Mandir, as the one in Bani Park, Jaipur. Well, I cannot take you to Jaipur, but at a low level substitution, kindly take a look at the following photos, sourced from there:

                          

The roof of the pillared hall, open on three sides (the deity is in His own room on the fourth side), is slightly elevated above the column heads and in this space the twelve scenes are painted, four per side. Each frame depicts a critical scene in the epic, from the birth of Lord Ram to his coronation after vanquishing Ravana. Well, I would not be able to do justice to how relevant those paintings are (even if they are not at the level art cognoscenti appreciate!) in that temple.

I handed the digital pictures (these pictures were taken on photo films) to someone with an excellent and appropriate dose (not too hot, not too cold, just right – the Goldilocks Principe)of art sensibilities, and he converted the bland pictures into four strips of frieze (paintings and not sculpture), and made them look like what an old time ambassador in a royal court may unwind to read from. I cannot appreciate enough his contribution in making this framed picture. Thank you, Mr. Sudhir Sharma. This was about thirty years ago.

Now the picture hangs in the wall directly opposite to the door to my residence, just so none could miss it. But, miss it each visitor to my house does. The powers of observation have gone out the window. Yet, I make it a point that they see it, whether they appreciate or not.

On August 27, 2025 and precisely 50 years ago (on August 27, 1975), a short piece is published in The Hindu in the space grandiosely titled, “FROM THE ARCHIVES”. This is given below:

It is not impossible that the artist who created the paintings at the Bani Park Ram Mandir took inspiration from the scenes of Ramayana from the temple at Chengam. And the artist went one better.

How so? At the 17th century temple in the erstwhile North Arcot District in Tamil Nadu the presiding deity is Lord Krishna, called Arjuna Sarathi (the charioteer of Arjuna) and also Gopalakrishnaswami (cowherd Gopal). The sculptor placed scenes from Ramayana in a temple dedicated to Lord Krishna! Tut, tut ...

But at Bani Park Ram Mandir, it is scenes from Ramayana in a Ram temple. It took three centuries (plus a few years maybe) to set sculpture (converted into paintings) in its proper place.

By the way, an earlier frame of the same picture was my gift (kept secret from her till the grand unveiling!) to my very religious minded wife about two decades ago. That one got spots on it and I fortunately could locate the digital file and made the frame shown in this post.

Raghuram Ekambaram