LONDON, UK, August 23, 2008: The British Library has brought the Ramayana to London, mounting a remarkable exhibition that showcases 120 breathtaking miniatures from what is probably the most beautiful version of the story ever painted: the 17th-century Ramayana commissioned by Rana Jagat Singh of Mewar (1628-52).
The precious collection at display in the museum found a home in Britain thanks to the Scottish scholar Colonel James Tod (1782-1835), author of the Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan.
The Ramayana has a special appeal in India yet unknown to most people in the UK. The BBC recently celebrated its success in drawing 10 million viewers to the final episode of the latest series of Doctor Who, but it was still a long way short of the figures achieved by Doordarshan, the Indian state television company, which in the late 1980s drew more than 100 million viewers to its Ramayana series. This 78-part series was at the time the world’s most viewed religious serial, and between January 1987 and July 1988 it more or less brought India to a standstill for an hour each week. In Delhi, government meetings had to be rescheduled after the entire cabinet failed to turn up for an urgent briefing.