c. 1820

Death of Valin, King of the Monkeys

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.