Finding Rāma in the Murals of the Sītārāma Temple at Galtā

Devoted to the union of Rāma and Sītā, the Rāma-Rasik sampradāya was founded and developed at the Galtā temple, near Jaipur, between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. The visuals associated with this sect were inspired by the vast literature produced by the mahants (priests) of Galtā, which closely followed the model of Kṛṣṇa theology. The priests produced these texts following their meditational practices (dhyān), in which they would see themselves as close female companions of the wedded Rāma and Sītā and would witness the divine union of the couple. The texts describe the couple’s amorous activities explicitly, while the paintings remain subtle. This essay analyses such paintings using a textual lens, and argues that the iconography of Kṛṣṇa was used deliberately in the paintings of Rāma to cultivate the imagination of a rasik for an amorous ‘divine’ act, while keeping the ultimate act hidden from the uninitiated.