© British Library

Picture - Rama’s wife Sita and brother Laksmana refuse to let him go into exile alone and all three leave Ayodhya in a chariot, to the despair of their parents.

Exhibition Review - The Ramayana: Love and Valour in India’s Great Epic in the Pearson Gallery, British Library until September 14 2008.

The British Library’s exhibition on the Ramayana brings to light a huge collection of rarely-seen manuscripts illustrating India’s epic. In this ravishing tale – thought to date back to around 500 BCE to 100 BCE – the divine Rama journeys to rescue Sita, a beautiful princess who has been abducted by the demon Ravana.

Simian armies fight with giants, appeals are made to the gods and Rama’s devotion to his duty is tested in a bloody final battle. The breathtaking detail of the paintings on display brings the story into vivid focus: Rama’s limbs arch elegantly as he launches weapons at the enemy, and the monkey-warriors are a swarm of teeth and swords.

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(Above) Sugriva sends out his monkey army to search for Sita. Rama gives Hanuman his ring as a token by which Sita can recognize him.

Doing justice to this epic is quite a task: the Ramayana is not only a literary monument but an integral part of Hinduism. Pilgrims flock to sites mentioned in the Ramayana and some believe the simple act of hearing its verses bestows blessings on the listener. Luckily, the curator Jerry Losty’s desire to provide a ‘unique experience’ is amply fulfilled, as museum-goers are allowed their first glimpse of these exquisite illustrations.

Designed by the Tara Arts Theatre Group, the layout of the exhibition is dynamic and varied: chapters are punctuated with austere granite statues of the gods. Displays of dance costumes, used in the annual Ram-lila (Rama-play) provide additional interest.

These intricate creations, with fine embroidery, gold leaf and jewels, were designed to give the wearers a divine appearance. Few of these items – which are currently on loan from other major collections at the V&A, the British Museum and the Ashmolean Museum – have had much public exposure, making this display a mine of unseen treasures.

The exhibition has nearly 120 paintings from Rana Jagat Singh of Mewar’s manuscripts. This extensive collection was created for him between between 1649 and 1653, leaving no episode from the Ramayana overlooked. The rulers of Mewar claimed Rama as an ancestor, making the Ramayana something of a family history.

© British Library

(Above) The mighty monkey Hanuman, while leaping across the ocean to Lanka, dives into the monster Surasa’s jaws and comes out through her ear.

In keeping with the Indian method of illustration, each picture captures several moments in the story. Rama often appears a number of times in one frame, giving the observer a sense of his movement.

Herds of deer in catherine-wheel shapes give an impression of animals frolicking in Rama’s presence. Rama himself is painted blue to symbolise his divine status. While he always appears vivacious, his elegant profile is almost aloof, befitting his status as an incarnation of the god Vishnu.

The battles are drawn in thrilling colour: one painting is entirely framed by the toothy beak of the king of the vultures as he tries to swallow Ravana whole. There are moments of gruesome comedy too, such as when the giant Kumbhakarna is shown being roused from a deep sleep, Ravana’s henchmen beating him with clubs and yelling into his cavernous ears.

The giant’s appetite for whole buffalo is also detailed in subsequent frames before this pudgy Goliath reveals his malevolent side, tearing the heads from the monkey army and crushing their bodies.

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(Above) The demons try to rouse Ravana’s brother, the prostrate giant Kumbhakarna, by hitting him with weapons and clubs and shouting in his ear.

As the conflict between good and evil intensifies, so does the level of detail in the illustrations. When the viewer winds their way to the paintings showing Rama’s final battle against the demon army, the composition becomes dense and chaotic. Arrows, spears and swords form a maelstrom whirling around Ravana at its centre.

For all the blood-flecked scenes on display – the giant stumbling with a gaping hole where his nose has been gnawed off is especially gruesome – the moral heart of the Ramayana is always abundantly clear.

Sita emerges as a woman of courage and nobility, refusing to be rescued by anyone other than Rama, even walking through fire to prove her chastity at the end. Rama’s devotion to the task of rescuing her and vanquishing Ravana is unswerving, a sense of his duty being clear in every frame. The story represents not only the struggle of these figures but acts as a metaphor for the destruction of evil and the triumph of righteousness.

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(Above) Rama and the exiles have returned home and he and his three brothers and helpers prepare themselves for his consecration as king.

For millennia since its authorship the tale has been told and re-told through poetry, dance-dramas, shadow puppetry, illustrations and more recently, film. While the British Library’s exhibition focuses on the seventeenth-century manuscripts, it also gives a sense of the diversity of the story’s telling through film posters, illustrated ganjifa cards and sculptures.

Most haunting are the eighteenth-century Javanese shadow puppets on display, used to act out the story behind a semi-transparent screen. The perforations in these delicate deer-hide creations create ethereal images of Rama and Sita when they are moved above a flickering oil lamp.

Younger visitors are encouraged to see this haunting effect for themselves with replica puppets behind an illuminated screen. Playful touches such as this make the exhibition a delight to scholars of Hinduism and curious museum-goers alike.