Art of Storytelling

Abstract

This article focuses on two exquisitely carved stone panels from Rajaona in Lakhisarai district, Bihar, depicting animated scenes from the Ramayana. The panels were first reported by Frederick Asher in 1986 and since his concise overview no further analysis has been forthcoming. This article seeks to identify the seven Ramayana episodes represented across the two panels and to analyse them within the broader context of early visual Ramayanas, and especially those from Bihar and Bengal. Contrary to what has previously been suggested, the scenes depicted are from the Yuddhakanda of the Ramayana, and of the seven parts, most comprise the earliest extant visual renderings of these stories. The panels have previously been dated to the Gupta period (c.319–550 ce) but following a stylistic analysis I propose instead an early post-Gupta date. This suggested dating conforms with the trajectory of Ramayana imagery in early India, which otherwise does not seem to have been adopted on temples in the eastern regions of the Indian subcontinent until the late sixth/early seventh century.