# Battle between monkeys and demons, from the “Shangri” Ramayana

**Unknown artist**  
c. 1700  
Gum tempera and ink on paper  
Page: 22.2 x 32.1 cm (8 3/4 x 12 5/8 in.)

Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 2025.9. [The museum's record](https://clevelandart.org/art/2025.9).

## About this work

When the demon Ravana refused to return Sita to her husband, the divine hero Rama, Ravana sent his army to attack Rama. Rama’s army, made up mainly of monkeys from the forest, fought valiantly using only trees and rocks. The artist creates a tapestry of color and form to convey the confusion of battle.

_Text from the Cleveland Museum of Art._

An unrecorded Northern India, Pahari kingdoms artist painted this in about 1700. It is now at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

### How it was made

- **Opaque watercolour.** Watercolour made opaque with white or chalk and laid in flat, even layers. Persian and Indian painters ground their colours from minerals, applied them with the finest brushes and burnished the finished page.
- **Tempera.** Pigment bound with egg yolk. It dries in minutes and can’t be blended wet, so painters built up form with fine, hatched strokes. It was Europe’s main panel technique before oil.
- **Ink on paper.** Ink made from soot and animal glue, ground with water on an inkstone. A single brush can give a hair-fine line or a broad wash, and nothing can be corrected.

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- Culture: Northern India, Pahari kingdoms
- Real size: about 8½ × 13 in (22 × 32 cm). The 11 × 14 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 17th century
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/800.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/800/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/battle-between-monkeys-and-demons-from-the-shangri-ramayana-cma-677526).