This artist is showing Rama going into exile. Through the faces of the people surrounding Rama, the artist is showing sorrow, confusion, love, and respect. The people surrounding Rama are wearing blue and he is wearing white so that the eye is drawn to Rama. The people surrounding the people in blue are mainly in white to provide the painting with contrast. The people in blue seem to have some sort of white article of clothing underneath the blue. White seems to be a big theme in this portrait. Every person in this portrait has some sort of sadness resonating in their facial expressions. All of the people seem to be quite close to Rama in this portrait, including Rama.
In the portrait, Rama seems to be upset about his exile yet in the text he showed no sadness and was proud to do what his father asked of him. “…I am thrice blessed, to make my brother the Kind, to carry out my father’s command, and to live in the forests,” (46). In the text, a large crowd had gathered to join Rama but this crowd seems more intimate than large. In the text, Rama did not realize that the crowd was following him at first but in the portrait the crowd is so close to him that it would be impossible for him to not realize. One person is even holding an umbrella over Rama’s head while he weeps. In the portrait it seems as though some people are just observing from a distance and not joining Rama on his journey but I did not get that impression at all from the text. I got the impression that everyone that was observing was joining Rama on his journey.
