Printer-friendly page

Bharata boating into forest to find Rama (Thai Ramayana mural)

On this mural at the Emerald Buddha Temple, Rama's brother Bharata and his comrades boat into the forest to try to find the exiled Rama after their father dies. The detail shows several long paddled canoes and a large poled platform barge. On each watercraft, royal persons or their lance-carrying guards sit in the center, while workmen paddling the boats sit at the ends.

Bharata was away from Ayudhya when his mother conspires to place him on the throne. When he returns he is angry and does not want to rule in his beloved brother Rama's place. He boats into the forest to persuade Rama to return to his rightful throne.

Rama, however, feels it is his duty to follow his dying father's instructions to spend fourteen years in the forest, so he refuses Bharata's attempt to renounce the throne. Bharata returns to Ayudhya with Rama's slippers and places them on the throne as a sign that Rama is the true king, and that he, Bharata, will only act as regent until Rama's return.

<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://statelibrarync.org/learnnc/sites/default/files/images/thai_rama_067.jpg" width="1024" height="683" alt="Bharata boating into forest to find Rama" title="Bharata boating into forest to find Rama" />
Usage Statement: 

Creative Commons BY-NC-SA

This item has a Creative Commons license for re-use.  This Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license means that you may use, remix, tweak, and build upon the work for non-commerical purposes as long as you credit the original creator and as long as you license your new creation using the same license. For more information about Creative Commons licensing and a link to the license, see full details at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.