A rare complete illustrated and illuminated Ramayana manuscript, Jammu, Punjab Hills, India, circa 1820

294 leaves, written in takri script in black ink, illuminated frontispiece, 16 miniatures, later binding

Good overall condition. Later binding. Illustrations bright and clear. Some minor surface dirt and abrasions, some rubbing to borders. Ganesha with consort on a throne - Vertical line of creasing Rama breaking the Bow of Shiva and winning Sita's hand - Minor spot of water staining to lower register and top right hand corner Ravana dressed up as an ascetic luring Sita out of the forest cottage she shares with Rama and Lakshmana - Small area of staining to left edge Very minor worming and staining to text pages. Four pages of the manuscript with loss and associated restoration.
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16 miniatures depicting scenes from the Ramayana:

 

-Ganesha with consort on a throne

-Dasaratha performs a ritual to appease the Gods so that he could be blessed with sons

-Rama and Lakshmana subduing demons after having become brave and able warriors

-Rama breaking the Bow of Shiva and winning Sita's hand

-Rama, Lakshmana and Sita leaving for exile

-Rama and Lakshmana with a sage

-Scenes from exile (2)

-Ravana dressed up as an ascetic luring Sita out of the forest cottage she shares with Rama and Lakshmana

-Ravana killing Jatayu while the monkeys watch from below as Ravana then carries Sita off the Lanka

-Hanuman and the monkeys tell Rama about Sita's whereabouts

-Hanuman visits Sita in Asokavana

-Hanuman and the monkey army build a bridge to Lanka

-Hanuman brings the Gandhamadhan Hill to Lakshmana so that the latter, injured by Ravana's son Indrajeet, can be cured with the life giving Sanjeevani herb that grows on the hill

-Rama slays Ravana in Battle

 

The Ramayana, Story of Rama, attributed to the sage Valmiki, consists of seven books and twenty-four thousand verses. Themes from the Ramayana were popular with Pahari patrons from the seventeenth through to the mid-nineteenth century.