Lying on the bare earth, Lord Rama rests on his journey into exile while his wife, Princess Sita, covers him with her veil. His brothers, Laksmana and Bharat accompany them, and Laksmana will stay for the coming twelve years. As the first son, Rama was heir to the kingdom of Ayodya. But the king's second wife, through treachery, forced him to crown her own son as king, and asked him to exile Rama and his Sita. The story comes from the Sanskrit Ramayana, or "Romance of Rama," the shorter of the Hindu tradition's two most famed epic poems. Devender Kumar Jha depicts the scene in a poignant Madhubani painting from India. He uses natural dyes on handmade paper.