Sita Bhumi Pravesh is painted by Raja Ravi Varma, who's one of the most important and finest artists of Indian paintings. This artwork is the first painting in Raja Ravi Varma's Ramayana series. It is also the painting to belong to the Gaekwad's collection in Baroda, Gujarat. Maharaja Visakham Thirunal gave Raja Ravi Varma inspiration to paint these kinds of paintings.The court of Travancore rejected this artwork. Diwan Madhav Rao presented this artwork among the court of the Gaekwad. Then Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III took this artwork into his collection. Rama questions Sitas chastity and fidelity. Upset by Ramas acquisitions Sita is taken over by her mother into Earth.
Sita Bhumi Pravesh signifies that Sita was being rejected by her husband Rama for the second time. Thus Sita was taken into the Earth by Goddess Bhumi, who's Sita's mother. Other people in the painting are Rama, his brother Lakshmana and Sita's two sons Luv and Kush along with two sages. All of them are shocked.
The painting is part of the Gaekwad's Maharaja Fateh Singh Museum. It is painted on canvas using oil paint, a medium, for which Raja Ravi Varma was famous. Other than this Raja Ravi Varma also painted Radha in the Moonlight, Gajalakshmi, Shakuntala amongst others.
To me, Sita Bhumi Pravesh represents Sita’s exhaustion from constantly being judged and asked to prove her loyalty. Her return to the earth feels tragic, but also like a final act of agency. Instead of defending herself again, she chooses to leave a world that has repeatedly questioned her. The shocked expressions around her make the moment feel even more powerful, almost as if everyone realises her value only after losing her.
