Death of Valin, King of the Monkeys

Currently not on view

Death of Valin, King of the Monkeys

c. 1820

Artist/maker unknown, Indian

To help Sugriva regain the throne of Kishkindha, Rama shoots King Valin, Sugriva's brother. In this scene Valin lies bleeding from the arrow wound. As he dies, Valin forgives Sugriva, who stands at the lower left wearing a three-pointed crown. Valin then commands Hanuman, the monkey general, to help rescue Sita. Rama touches Hanuman's hand and head at Valin's pronouncement. In the right half of the painting Valin's wife Tara, her women, and the monkey soldiers mourn the former king's death. This is one of Rama's few morally questionable acts, and Tara criticizes him for it. At the lower right, monkeys surround the prepared funerary bier and then carry it, now bearing Valin's flower-swathed body, toward a flaming pyre, the final scene in the sequence.

Currently not on view

Object Details

Title:

Death of Valin, King of the Monkeys
Page from a dispersed series of the Ramayana

Date:

c. 1820

Artist:

Artist/maker unknown, Indian

Medium:

Opaque watercolor and gold on paper

Dimensions:

Image: 8 1/4 × 11 9/16 inches (21 × 29.4 cm) Sheet: 8 7/8 × 12 3/16 inches (22.5 × 31 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

Gift of Stella Kramrisch, 1975

Accession Number:

1975-148-3

Geography:

Made in India, Asia Probably made in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, India, Asia

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Currently not on view