Demon king Ravana with two wives (Thai Ramayana mural)

The demon king Ravana sits on a palace platform with two of his wives, as seen on a mural at the Emerald Buddha Temple. Ravana has one arm around each wife’s neck. The wives both have their right hands held to their faces, as if in grief. Another demon, perhaps a relative or a courtier, kneels on a tiled floor at the base of their royal platform.
Ravana has many wives, but when his sister tells him of Sita’s unparalleled beauty, he feels he must have Sita too. Here his wives appear unhappy to hear the news of Ravana’s fascination with Sita, Rama’s wife.
Note that in Thai temple paintings, the demon king Ravana has dark green (or blue) skin much like Rama. Rama’s facial features, however, are much more delicate and refined, while demons often are portrayed with bulging eyes and visible fangs. Ravana’s two wives shown here, however, appear as normal beautiful women with fair skin and no obvious demon features. Ravana, his wives, and the second demon man all wear Siamese style royal clothes and tall golden crowns.In this Emerald Buddha Temple mural scene, the demon king Ravana instructs his niece to imitate Sita’s appearance and behavior. Ravana speaks and gestures his instructions from a high palace veranda to his young and beautiful niece who sits respectfully on the tile floor below him with her hands in prayer position. Ravana and his niece both wear Siamese royal clothes, gold jewelry, and tall crowns.
Ravana ignores the advice to return Sita given by both the wise hermit and his own brother the astrologer. Instead Ravana devises a plan to deceive Rama into thinking that Sita is dead so Rama will stop looking for her. Ravana intends to employ his niece as a double of Sita to try to fool Rama.Sita is approached and then abducted by the demon king Ravana as shown in two adjacent images on a mural at the Emerald Buddha Temple.
On the left, Ravana tries to trick Sita by posing as a gentle hermit. On the right, Ravana is shown as himself, in demon form, carrying her away by force when she does not leave willingly with the hermit. Note that the wall with an open gate that surrounds Sita’s pavillion serves as the visual border between the two chronological scenes in which Sita appears.
Rama and Laksman are not there to protect Sita because Sita sent Rama to the forest to capture a golden deer, which was really a demon sent to draw Rama away from Sita. Laksman also left Sita alone because a demon pretended he was Rama in the forest calling for Laksman’s help.In this mural detail at the Emerald Buddha Temple, the demon king Ravana has his dream interpreted by his younger brother Bhibek, the royal astrologer. Ravana is shown here seated on a raised cushion in golden attire, waving his ten arms, while his brother sits on a small carpet at Ravana’s feet.Ravana was furious to have his city of Lankaburned by Hanuman, but now he is troubled by a strange dream. In the dream, a white vulture from the east attacks and kills a black vulture from the west. The black vulture falls to the ground by a demon with an oil lamp. The demon is burned to ashes.Ravana’s brother tells him that the white vulture is Rama and the black vulture is Ravana. He says the dream means that Rama will destroy Ravana and his demon city if Sita is not returned. Hearing the dream’s interpretation, Ravana only becomes more angry and determined to keep Sita for himsel