CENTER FOR ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY 
Ramcharit Manas Introduction
The Ramcharit Manas manuscript was
housed in the All India Kashi Raj Trust, Ramnagar Fort in Varanasi, at the time
of its documentation in 1977. Commissioned by Maharaja Udit Narayan Singh of
Banaras – the erstwhile name of Varanasi, (r. 1795–1835), it was produced
between 1796 and 1814 in seven volumes: Balakanda, Ayodhyakanda, Aranyakanda,
Kishkindhakanda, Sundarakanda, Lankakanda, and Uttarkanda. The manuscript
comprises nearly 550 illustrations. Each folio paired a full-page painting on
the recto with handwritten Devanagari text on the verso, presenting Tulsidas’s
Ramcharit Manas in its metrical structure of dohas, chaupais, and
chhands.
In 1977, at the suggestion of
performance studies scholar Richard Schechner, Maharaja Vibhuti Narayan Singh
permitted the complete manuscript to be photographed by the Center for Art and
Archaeology of the American Institute of Indian Studies. Since then, the
manuscript has been disassembled and folios have entered private and
institutional collections. In 2023, the Museum of Art & Photography
reunited several folios in an exhibition, including those in its collection.
Current folio locations listed in the subject labels follow Book of Gold: The
Kanchana Chitra Ramayana of Banaras by Kavita Singh and Parul Singh.
