Image: Hanuman in Lanka

Hanuman in Lanka
(British Library: Mewar Ramayana)

From the Library site:  Arrived on the island of Lanka, Hanuman has shrunk in size, and eventually finds Sita near a dazzling white temple in a grove of ashoka trees within the palace complex. She is seated on the ground like a female ascetic and sunk in melancholy. From his perch in a tree Hanuman can see her guarded by female demons and surrounded by Ravana's wives, the daughters of gods and other divine creatures whom he had already captured. Ravana, who has ten heads and twenty arms, comes to beg her to marry him, but she repulses him. If she does not change her mind, Ravana threatens, he will have her killed. One of his wives seeks to divert him, but he strides angrily away. Sita is comforted by Hanuman when he reveals himself to her as Rama's messenger with his ring, but she cannot allow herself to be rescued by him: to her husband alone belongs the right to rescue her and the glory of so doing. She does however give Hanuman a jewel as a token for Rama.

Detail: Ravana and Sita in the Ashoka grove.

Mandodari and Ravana

Image: Panchakanya

Panchakanya:
Ahalya, Tara, Mandodari, Sita Kunti, Draupadi.

(Raja Ravi Varma)

You can read more about the Panchakanya at Wikipedia.

Image: Mandodari Rebukes Ravana

Mandodari Rebukes Ravana

circa 1605

(Asian Art Museum of San Francisco)

You can read more about Mandodari at Wikipedia.

From the Museum site: After finally locating his abducted wife, Rama plans an assault on the island fortress of Lanka, where she has been imprisoned. As the threat of battle looms, several of Ravana's associates attempt to persuade the demon king to return Sita to her husband. Among them is Mandodari, Ravana's principal wife. In this painting Mandodari is accompanied by another woman, probably a maidservant, as she approaches Ravana in his palace chambers. Rama, identified by his blue skin, stands near his white-skinned brother Lakshmana in the lower-right-hand portion of this painting. The pair are joined by several of their monkey allies. Three of Ravana's demon guards patrol the palace and its grounds.

Details:

Image: Ravana Fallen

Ravana Fallen

(British Library: Mewar Ramayana)

From the Library site: Vibhisana was overcome with grief at the death of his brother Ravana, who despite his wickedness acted out his life in accordance with the dharma into which he was born. Rama on the left in full council instructs Vibhisana and the remaining demons to perform Ravana's funeral rites. Across the top of the picture the monkeys and demons gather the wood for the funeral pyre. On the right Ravana's body is surrounded by his lamenting wives headed by his chief wife Mandodari. The women express their grief with eloquent gestures. Sahib Din's expresses Mandodari's heartfelt lament for her dead husband and sons by placing her with her back to us as she unbraids her hair in the traditional gesture of the bereaved wife. The directional imperative from left to right has now ceased as Sahib Din reverts to a traditional dividing frame for his composition.

Details: Rama Makes Peace, 

Mandodari Grieves for Ravana

by unbraiding her hair,

Funeral Preparations

Image: Mandodari and Ravana

Image source: Mandodari and Ravana