On Aug 25, 2015 2:53 PM, "John Brockington" <John.Brockington@btinternet.com> wrote:
>
>
> Subject:
> Re: [INDOLOGY] Fwd: Help on mystery painting of Ramayana (?) episode
> Date:
> Tue, 25 Aug 2015 10:14:11 +0100
> From:
> Mary Brockington <mary.brockington@btinternet.com>
>
>
>
> Dear all
>
> Many thanks to Nityanand Misra for providing such a plausible identification, and for bringing to our attention yet another source book to be trawled for our inventory of Rāma narrative motifs.  It is all truly exciting, and yet another lesson to us scholars not to neglect the influence of non-written sources on visual tellers. 
>
> I suppose the black speck in the middle of the dish is the [reflection of the] bee/wasp.  Might the almost-hidden female figure perhaps be Mandodarī?  Is there any explanation for Lakṣmaṇa’s feet being off the ground?  [The cynic in me links it to the requirement to stand for hours on a pan of boiling oil]  
>
>

The black speck should be the reflection as the arrow has not been shot yet by Laksmana.

Also note that the feet of Laksmana are coloured red, in stark contrast to the fair skin shown on the face and the hands. The shade of red looks quite like burnt skin. This possibly captures the narrative of standing for hours on a pan of boiling oil. Are the feet in the air to show he has just jumped out of the pan to get a full view of the reflection of the bee/wasp in the oil and have a better aim at the target? The body posture of Laksmana looks like that of somebody jumping forwards and simultaneously looking down backwards.

> As for the severed hands, either they represent Rāma’s previous unsuccessful attempts to kill Rāvaṇa (in which case why haven’t they regenerated?), or (less plausibly) the beginning of his disintegration at the point of death.
>

The hands have just been severed, all three are shown falling on the ground. This could possibly explain why they have not regenerated [yet].

Another mysterious element is an ardhacandra arrow shot at the pan. Who has shot it? Ravana is not holding any bows.