Ram Sita Cheriyal Mask – Hand-painted Telangana Folk Art

Among the twenty-odd traditional moulds still used by Nakashi mask-makers in Cheriyal village, near Warangal in Telangana, the figures of Rama and Sita are consistently among the most requested, according to the artisans who continue this roughly 400-year-old craft — a popularity that makes sense given how central this pair is to the Ramayana, the epic these masks were once used to help narrate before village audiences.

This set brings the two figures together as a pair of individual masks, Rama and Sita each built and painted separately before being meant to hang side by side. The process is unchanged from the rest of the tradition: a wooden core shaped with tamarind seed paste and sawdust, dried over several days, coated in white lime, and hand-painted using natural pigments, with the crowns, jewellery, and facial expression worked in by hand for each figure individually. This craft was awarded a Geographical Indication tag in 2010, and today survives through only a small number of practising families in the village.

Given the pair's central place in the Ramayana as an emblem of devotion and partnership, this set is particularly well suited to a wedding or anniversary gift, alongside its broader use as a significant piece for a home that wants Ramayana iconography represented on its walls.

Material: Tamarind seed powder, sawdust, cotton cloth, natural colours

Dimensions: 5.5 inches x 9 inches x 3 inches (each mask)