Sita Vanvas - 02

This is an oleograph of “Sita Vanvas” (Sita in Exile) by Ravi Varma from the 1920s/30s. Sita is the heroine of the epic, Ramayana. In seven books, the story narrates the exile of Rama to the forest with his wife Sita and his brother Lakshman, the subsequent abduction of Sita by Ravana (the demon-king of Lanka) and the rescue of Sita with the help of Sugriva - the king of the monkey tribe, and his minister Hanuman. After a fierce battle the city of Lanka was taken, Ravana was defeated and killed, and Sita was rescued. Rama returned and was crowned to begin his glorious reign of Ayodhya. This picture represents the time after their return to Ayodhya when Rama sends Sita into the forest (a second exile) near sage Valmiki's ashram, because the people of Ayodhya were questioning her purity after being captured by Ravana for so long. Years later, Sita returns to the womb of her mother Bhoomi (the earth) for a release from a cruel world, after she reunites her two sons Kusha and Lava with their father Rama.