{"id":63000,"date":"2026-11-13T17:18:39","date_gmt":"2026-11-13T17:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/13\/the-many-lives-of-the-ramayana-in-london\/"},"modified":"2026-11-13T17:18:39","modified_gmt":"2026-11-13T17:18:39","slug":"the-many-lives-of-the-ramayana-in-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/13\/the-many-lives-of-the-ramayana-in-london\/","title":{"rendered":"The many lives of the \u2018Ramayana\u2019 in London"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Last month, during London\u2019s Frieze week, Indian designer Vikram Goyal transformed two rooms at 7 Grafton Street into Wings & Tales<\/i>, a fantastical interpretation of the Ramayana<\/i>. The Georgian townhouse in Mayfair saw monkeys carrying flags and firecrackers and crocodiles emerging from embroidered brocades.<\/p>\n

Weeks later, at a dinner in the city, I found myself in conversation with someone from a magazine who was still talking about the salon-style exhibition. It was telling. During a week when Frieze and PAD London increasingly double as social circuits, Goyal had offered something different: time to sit, absorb and understand the stories behind the objects. The choice of a townhouse felt especially fitting for this intimate proposition. As art consultant Tahira Chawla, who attended the exhibition, observed, fairs rarely allow visitors to fully appreciate the craftsmanship or the making of a piece.<\/p>\n

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\"Art<\/div>\n

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Art consultant Tahira Chawla
\n | Photo Credit:
\n Getty Images\n <\/p>\n

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Goyal\u2019s approach comes amid a growing international presence for Indian creatives, from designer Ashiesh Shah\u2019s copper-led Taamr exhibition at Ladbroke Hall to Gaurav Gupta\u2019s theatrical couture presentation at Harrods. Rahul Mishra, too, explored craftsmanship and heritage in conversation with actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas at a London event last year. Yet Goyal made dialogue the very premise of his showcase.<\/p>\n

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Ruth Ganesh, principal trustee of Elephant Family, the U.K.-based NGO dedicated to protecting Asian elephants, put it rather beautifully: \u201cIt felt like being welcomed into a home rather than a showroom. The salon setting meant you encountered Vikram\u2019s work up close with time to linger.\u201d She added that having conversation at its heart gave the work \u201ca context and depth you rarely find at an opening\u201d. Perhaps this is where the next chapter of Indian design abroad lies: not simply in presenting beautiful objects, but in inviting audiences into the cultural worlds that created them.<\/p>\n

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\n \u201cI think Vikram understood that to introduce Indian design to an international audience, you don\u2019t simply showcase beautiful objects. You need to invite people into the world and stories behind them. London is such a wonderful meeting point for different cultures. And this was a cultural experience rather than a commercial presentation. I would love to see more Indian brands embrace this approach. We have such an extraordinary wealth of craftsmanship, creativity and storytelling, and there\u2019s an appetite for that globally.\u201dAnita KaushalCo-founder, Mauli Rituals Ayurvedic skincare<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Belief in interconnectedness<\/h4>\n

The exhibition\u2019s starting point was deeply personal. Goyal remembers being five years old, accompanying his parents to elaborate three-hour Ramayana<\/i> performances. The costumes, makeup and extraordinary half-human, half-bird creatures left a lasting impression. Decades later, those childhood memories resurfaced through Vana Maitri<\/i> (Friends of the Forest), a sculptural brass screen of twisting, forest-inspired form, with Goyal looking beyond the epic\u2019s central figures to its animals and mythical beings.<\/p>\n

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\"Vana<\/div>\n

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Vana Maitri screen with Goyal\u2019s signature repouss\u00e9 techniqu\n <\/p>\n

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\"Makara<\/div>\n

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Makara Stool\n <\/p>\n

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Yet, presenting these stories in London also meant opening them up to audiences who might not share that familiarity. While those acquainted with the Ramayana<\/i> might recognise its characters, others might be drawn to the animals, landscapes or craftsmanship. Beyond the visual spectacle, Goyal wanted to pose a question: how do the stories we inherit continue to find meaning in different places and times? He also wanted to convey the spiritual meaning of these creatures in Indian traditions, where animals can embody sacred qualities and reflect a belief in the interconnectedness of living beings.<\/p>\n

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\"Vikram<\/div>\n

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Vikram Goyal at 7 Grafton Street\u00a0in Mayfair
\n | Photo Credit:
\n Taran Wilkhu\n <\/p>\n

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Monkeys, particularly, became recurring characters. In one scene, they carry musical instruments, flags and rockets, suspended somewhere between celebration and battle. \u201cI was interested in the duality of celebration and conflict within a single image,\u201d he explains. This ambiguity caught the attention of historian and author Sam Dalrymple, who joined the salon\u2019s programme of conversations. Was it heading into battle with a weapon or celebrating Diwali? The uncertainty, he suggests, is precisely what makes the work compelling.<\/p>\n

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\"Makara<\/div>\n

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Makara Ottoman
\n | Photo Credit:
\n Taran Wilkhu\n <\/p>\n

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\"Vana<\/div>\n

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Vana Maitri (Friends of the Forest)\n <\/p>\n

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Just as the Ramayana<\/i> has been retold and reinterpreted across generations and geographies, an image can take on different meanings depending on the cultural lens through which it is viewed. \u201cWe often forget the infinite numbers of versions of the epic that are told in Thailand, in Burma,\u201d says Dalrymple, whose book Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia<\/i> examines the subcontinent\u2019s related past.<\/p>\n

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\"Sam<\/div>\n

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Sam Dalrymple\n <\/p>\n

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He also points to an Islamic retelling associated with southwestern Yemen, which, he says, identifies Yemen as Lanka, as well as South Indian and Sri Lankan interpretations that recast the epic through different historical and cultural perspectives. For Dalrymple, this ability to be continually reimagined is what gives such ancient narratives their enduring appeal. He draws parallels with Greek poet Homer\u2019s Odyssey<\/i>, the Iliad<\/i> and the Epic of Gilgamesh <\/i>(from Mesopotamia), which, despite their supernatural worlds, grapple with universal human experiences.<\/p>\n

Indian miniatures meet Chinese embroidery<\/h4>\n

The craftsmanship was equally layered. Goyal\u2019s signature repouss\u00e9 technique, in which metal is hammered from behind to create raised reliefs, appeared alongside intricate mother-of-pearl inlay, hand-embroidered textiles and bespoke brocades developed with an atelier in Varanasi. Rugs made entirely from recycled sari silk portrayed the Ramayana<\/i>\u2019s realms of land, sea and air. Their visual language borrowed from Indian and Ottoman miniature paintings, Chinese embroidery and porcelain, and Art Deco.<\/p>\n

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\"Whispers<\/div>\n

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Whispers of Madhuvana thali<\/i><\/p>\n

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Such cultural crossings are hardly new, Dalrymple suggests. India\u2019s position within the Indian Ocean has historically connected it to the Persian Gulf, East Africa, Southeast Asia and beyond.<\/p>\n

Space for exchange<\/h4>\n

If the collection explored how stories travel, its setting considered how they are shared. Rather than a conventional gallery, Goyal recreated the Indian baithak<\/i>, a drawing room intended for gathering and exchange.<\/p>\n

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Inspired by his home in New Delhi, the interiors brought together rich velvet seating, patterned carpets, sculptural screens and elaborate tableware, creating a lived-in, fantastical world within the Georgian townhouse. \u201cThe baithak<\/i> is a space of gathering and exchange,\u201d Goyal explains. At a time of environmental upheaval and geopolitical conflict, he wanted a setting that encouraged reflection rather than simply the consumption of beautiful objects.<\/p>\n

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\"Vikram<\/div>\n

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Vikram Goyal with Ruth Ganesh\n <\/p>\n

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\u201cLondon has a deep, complicated shared history with South Asia, and an audience that is curious and knowledgeable. Pairing design with a historian, a design editor and Gymkhana\u2019s cocktails made it very much a living cultural evening,\u201d says Ganesh. \u201cI think more brands should explore it [because] when you take your designs abroad, the story is the thing that travels best, and a conversation-led format is the most honest way to tell it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The column is dedicated to dissecting India\u2019s growing presence around the world, against some of the most talked about cultural backdrops.<\/i><\/p>\n

The writer is an independent journalist based in London, writing on fashion, luxury and lifestyle.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Published – November 13, 2026 10:23 pm IST<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Last month, during London\u2019s Frieze week, Indian designer Vikram Goyal transformed two rooms at 7 Grafton Street into Wings & Tales, a fantastical interpretation of the Ramayana. The Georgian townhouse in Mayfair saw monkeys carrying flags and firecrackers and crocodiles emerging from embroidered brocades. Weeks later, at a dinner in the city, I found myself […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}