Raja Ravi Varma

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Raja Ravi Varma

Ravivarma1b.jpg

Born 29 April 1848[1][2]

Kilimanoor, Travancore (present day Kerala)

Died 2 October 1906 (aged 58)

Attingal, Travancore

Other names Koili Thampuran of Kilimanoor, Ravi Varma Koil Thampuran

Alma mater University College Thiruvananthapuram

Occupation painter, artist

Notable work

Shakuntala; Nair Lady Adorning Her Hair; There Comes Papa; Galaxy of Musicians

Awards Kaisar-i-Hind Gold Medal

Signature

Raja Ravi Varma signature.png

Raja Ravi Varma[3][4] (29 April 1848 – 2 October 1906) was a celebrated Indian painter and artist.
He is considered among the greatest painters in the history of Indian art for a number of aesthetic
and broader social reasons. Firstly, his works are held to be among the best examples of the fusion
of European techniques with a purely Indian sensibility. While continuing the tradition and
aesthetics of Indian art, his paintings employed the latest European academic art techniques of the
day. Secondly, he was notable for making affordable lithographs of his paintings available to the
public, which greatly enhanced his reach and influence as a painter and public figure. Indeed, his
lithographs increased the involvement of common people with fine arts and defined artistic tastes
among common people for several decades. In particular, his depictions of Hindu deities and
episodes from the epics and Puranas have received profound acceptance from the public and are
found, often as objects of worship, across the length and breadth of India.[citation needed]

Raja Ravi Varma was closely related to the royal family of Travancore of present-day Kerala state in
India. Later in his life, two of his granddaughters were adopted into that royal family, and their
descendants comprise the totality of the present royal family of Travancore, including the latest
three Maharajas (Balarama Varma III, Marthanda Varma III and Rama Varma VII).[citation needed]
Contents

1 Personal life

2 Art career

3 Raja Ravi Varma Press

4 Honours

5 Legacy

6 List of major works

7 In popular culture

8 Bibliography

8.1 English

8.2 Malayalam

8.3 Marathi

9 Notes and references

10 External links

Personal life

Raja Ravi Varma was born M. R. Ry. Ravi Varma, Koil Thampuran of Kilimanoor at Kilimanoor palace
in the erstwhile princely state of Travancore (present-Kerala)[5] into an aristocratic family that for
over 200 years produced consorts for the princesses of the matrilineal Travancore royal family. The
title Raja was conferred as a personal title by the Viceroy and Governor-General of India.[5]

There comes Papa (1893), depicting Varma's daughter Mahaprabha with one of her sons.

Varma's sister-in-law, Bharani Thirunal Lakshmi Bayi, Senior Rani of Attingal (or Travancore), who
adopted Varma's granddaughters in 1900 CE

Ravi Varma was the son of Ezhumavil Neelakanthan Bhattatiripad and Umayamba Thampurratti. His
mother Uma Ambabayi Thampuratty (or Umayamba Bayi Thampuratty) belonged to the baronial
family which ruled the Kilimanoor feudal estate within the kingdom of Travancore. She was a poet
and writer of some talent, and her work Parvati Swayamvaram was published by Varma after her
death. Ravi Varma's father was a scholar of Sanskrit and Ayurveda and hailed from the Ernakulam
district in Kerala. Ravi Varma had three siblings, a sister named Mangala Bayi and two brothers
named Goda Varma (born 1854) and Raja Varma (born 1860). The last-named was also a painter and
worked closely with Ravi Varma all his life.[citation needed]

In 1866, at the age of 18, Varma was married to 12-year-old Bhageerthi Bayi (known formally as
Pooruruttati Nal Bhageerathi Bayi Thampuratty) of the royal house of Mavelikkara, another major
fief of Travancore kingdom. Notably, the house of Mavellikara was a branch of the Royal House of
Travancore. Bhageerthi was the youngest of three sisters, and both of her elder sisters had been
adopted into the royal family of Travancore in 1857 in order to carry on the lineage. They were
known as the Senior and Junior Rani of Attingal, and in their progeny was vested the succession to
the throne of Travancore. Therefore, Ravi Varma's connection to the royal family became very close
due to his marriage with Bhageerthi. Indeed, his children (because they belonged to their mother's
family) would be royal by birth. The marriage, which was arranged by the parents in the proper
Indian manner, was harmonious and successful. The couple were blessed with five children, two
sons, and three daughters. Their elder son, Kerala Varma (b.1876) was of an excessively spiritual
temperament. He never married and eventually renounced the world, leaving home for good in
1912. The younger son, Rama Varma (born 1879), inherited his father's artistic talent and studied at
the JJ School of Arts, Mumbai. He was married to Gowri Kunjamma, sister of Dewan PGN Unnithan,
and became the father of seven children.[citation needed]

It was however Ravi Varma's daughters who were singled out by destiny for greatness, although not
in the field of art, nor personally, but through their daughters. The three daughters of Ravi Varma
and Bhageerthi Bayi were Mahaprabha Amma (who features in two of Varma's most famous
paintings), Uma Amma (named after Varma's mother) and Cheria Kochamma. In 1900 CE, the Royal
House of Travancore once again faced a succession crisis. Bhageerthi's two elder sisters, who had
been adopted in order to carry forward the lineage, had failed to produce the desired heirs. They
had had six children between them, but only two of those had survived, and both were boys (who
also, incidentally, later died childless). According to the matrilineal Marumakkathayam system, the
succession to the throne could only progress through females, and therefore it was necessary to
make an adoption. Tradition dictated that two girls belonging to branches of the Royal Family be
adopted together. They would be designated the Senior and Junior Rani of Attingal, and the
succession to the throne of Travancore would be vested in their progeny, in accordance with the
unusual and unique Marumakkathayam system of succession.[citation needed]

Two of Varma's grand-daughters were marked by destiny to receive this honour, the main reason
being that they were the nearest matrilineal (cognatic) kin to the incumbent Rani of Attingal. In
August 1900, Mahaprabha's eldest daughter Lakshmi Bayi (aged 5 years) and Uma's eldest daughter
Parvati Bayi (aged 4 years) were adopted into the Royal family of Travancore. It was Bharani Thirunal
Lakshmi Bayi, their surviving grand-aunt, who formally adopted them. She died within one year of
doing this, and the two girls were then installed as the Senior and Junior Ranis of Attingal
respectively. They were married while yet in their early teens to two gentleman from suitable
aristocratic families. It was the Junior Rani, Sethu Parvathi Bayi, who gave birth to the much-awaited
heir in 1912, exactly a day after her sixteenth birthday. Incidentally, her husband was a grand-
nephew of Raja Ravi Varma and belonged to Kilimanoor. The newborn child was the future Maharaja
Chithira Thirunal, the last ruling Maharaja of Travancore. He was followed by a brother (the future
Maharaja Marthanda Varma III) and a sister Lakshmi Bayi, the mother of Maharaja Rama Varma VII
who is presently on the throne (since 2013). Meanwhile, the Senior Rani (Sethu Lakshmi Bayi,
daughter of Mahaprabha Amma, and Regent in the period 1924-31) also gave birth to two daughters
later in life (in 1923 and 1926).[citation needed]

In this way, the entire present (existing) royal family of Travancore is descended from Raja Ravi
Varma. Well-known among his royal descendants are the writers Aswathi Thirunal Gowri Lakshmi
Bayi and Shreekumar Varma, the artist Rukmini Varma and the classical musician Aswathi Thirunal
Rama Varma.[citation needed]

Art career

Varma was patronised by Ayilyam Thirunal, the next Maharajah of Travancore and began formal
training thereafter.[6] He learned the basics of painting in Madurai. Later, he was trained in water
painting by Rama Swami Naidu and in oil painting by Dutch portraitist Theodor Jenson.[citation
needed]

The studio used by Varma during his stay at the Laxmi Vilas Palace

The British administrator Edgar Thurston was significant in promoting the careers of Varma and his
brother.[7] Varma received widespread acclaim after he won an award for an exhibition of his
paintings at Vienna in 1873. Varma's paintings were also sent to the World's Columbian Exposition
held in Chicago in 1893 and he was awarded three gold medals.[8] He travelled throughout India in
search of subjects. He often modelled Hindu Goddesses or Indian women, whom he considered
beautiful. Ravi Varma is particularly noted for his paintings depicting episodes from the story of
Dushyanta and Shakuntala, and Nala and Damayanti, from the Mahabharata. Ravi Varma's
representation of mythological characters has become a part of the Indian imagination of the epics.
He is often criticized for being too showy and sentimental in his style but his work remains very
popular in India. Many of his fabulous paintings are housed at Laxmi Vilas Palace, Vadodara.[9]

Raja Ravi Varma Press

Mrs. Ramanadha Rao and son

Apparently on the advice of the then Dewan (Prime Minister) of Travancore, T. Madhava Rao, Ravi
Varma started a lithographic printing press in Ghatkopar, Mumbai in 1894 and later shifted it to
Malavli near Lonavala, Maharashtra in 1899. The oleographs produced by the press were mostly of
Hindu gods and goddesses in scenes adapted mainly from the Mahabharata, the Ramayana and the
Puranas. These oleographs were very popular and continued to be printed in thousands for many
years, even after the 1906 death of Ravi Varma.[citation needed]

The Ravi Varma press was the largest and most innovative press in India at that time. The press was
managed by Varma's brother, Raja Varma, but under their management, it was a commercial failure.
By 1899 the press was deeply in debt and in 1901, the press was sold to his printing technician from
Germany, Fritz Schleicher. Schleicher continued to print Ravi Varma's prints but later employed less
talented artists to create new designs. Schleicher also broadened the product of press to include
commercial and advertisement labels. Under the management of Schleicher and his successors, the
press continued successfully until a devastating fire destroyed the whole factory in 1972. Many of
Ravi Varma's original lithographic prints were also lost in the fire.[10]

Honours

Raja Ravi Varma on a 1971 stamp of India

In 1904, Viceroy Lord Curzon, on behalf of the British King Emperor, bestowed upon Varma the
Kaisar-i-Hind Gold Medal. A college dedicated to fine arts was also constituted in his honour at
Mavelikara, Kerala. Raja Ravi Varma High at Kilimanoor was named after him and there are many
cultural organizations throughout India bearing his name. In 2013, the crater Varma on Mercury was
named in his honor.[11] Considering his vast contribution to Indian art, the Government of Kerala
has instituted an award called Raja Ravi Varma Puraskaram, which is awarded every year to people
who show excellence in the field of art and culture.[12]

On his 65th death anniversary, India post issued a commemorative postal stamp depicting Ravi
Varma and his famous painting 'Damayanti and Swan'

Legacy

Raja Ravi Varma is sometimes regarded as the first modern Indian artist due to his ability to
reconcile Western aesthetics with Indian iconography. The Indian art historian and critic Geeta Kapur
wrote,

Ravi Varma is the indisputable father figure of modern Indian art. Naive and ambitious at the same
time, he opens up the debate for his later compatriots in the specific matter of defining individual
genius through professional acumen, of testing modes of cultural adaptation with idiosyncratic
effect, of attempting pictorial narration with its historic scope.

[13]

Similarly, Baroda School artist Gulam Mohammed Sheikh also wrote about Ravi Varma as a modern
artist. In his essay "Ravi Varma in Baroda," Sheikh asserted that Varma was a key figure in the
establishment of Indian modern art, claiming that "the story of contemporary Indian art was never
the same after Ravi Varma had entered it. He left his imprint on almost every aspect of it." Like
Kapur, Sheikh praised Ravi Varma's integration of Indian and Western aesthetics and techniques,
comparing him favorably to Indian modernist Nandalal Bose.[14]

However, Ravi Varma's legacy is controversial. Fellow Baroda School artist and art historian Ratan
Parimoo saw Ravi Varma in a less favorable light, derogatorily referring to him as kitsch and claiming
Varma's work was less spiritually authentic than folk art and tribal art. He argued that Ravi Varma
was responsible for the "vulgarity" of popular art, comparing Varma's work to the lurid colors and
sexuality of popular images in calendar art and films.[15] [16]

Despite his controversial legacy, Ravi Varma continues to be an important figure for modern and
contemporary Indian artists. For example, celebrated modern artist Nalini Malani recreated Ravi
Varma's Galaxy of Musicians in her video installation Unity in Diversity to interrogate Ravi Varma's
idealistic nationalism and critique the 2002 riots in Gujarat.[17] Similarly, contemporary artist
Pushpamala N. recreated several Ravi Varma paintings with herself as the subject to deconstruct
Ravi Varma's idealized depictions of goddesses and Indian women.

List of major works

The following is a list of the prominent works of Ravi Varma.

Mohini playing with a ball

Yashoda and Krishna

Village Belle

Lady Lost in Thought

Damayanti Talking to a Swan

The Orchestra

Arjuna and Subhadra

The heartbroken

Swarbat Player

Shakuntala

Lord Krishna as Ambassador

Jatayu, a bird devotee of Lord Rama is mauled by Ravana

Victory of Indrajit

The gypsies[attribution needed]

A Lady Playing Swarbat

Lady Giving Alms at the Temple

Lord Rama Conquers Varuna

Gheevarghese Mar Gregorios of Parumala

Nair Woman

Romancing Couple

Draupadi Dreading to Meet Kichaka

Shantanu and Matsyagandha

Shakuntala Composing a Love Letter to King Dushyanta

Girl in Sage Kanwa's Hermitage (Rishi-Kanya)

Bharani Thirunal Lakshmi Bayi of Travancore

Sri Shanmukha Subramania Swami

Woman holding a fan

3D painting of The Mysore king in a horse[available at the Mysore palace]

https://www.google.com/search?q=mohini+playing+with+a+ball+raja+ravi+varma&rlz=1C5CHFA_en
IN831IN831&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi5mMja7KfkAhXPbX0KHWEGBHMQ_AUI
ESgB&biw=1374&bih=585#imgrc=4peGwLwbbnO3PM:==Gallery==
Sri Shanmukha Subramania Swami

Tilottama, chromolithograph, 1896

Saraswati

Sri Rama conquers Varuna from Ramayana

Damayanti from Mahabharata

Ladies in the moonlight

Shantanu and Satyavati from Mahabharata

Simhaka and Sairandhri from Mahabharata

Jatayu wars with Ravana

Woman holding a fan

Galaxy of Musicians

The Maharashtrian Lady

Gypsies

Woman Holding a Fruit

Portrait of a Lady

Noblemen of Travancore Pillai of Kandamath

In popular culture

The Chennai Silks director Sivalingam has designed a saree with 11 paintings of Varma which entered
into the Guinness World Records as the most expensive saree in January 2008; it is called a vivaha
pattu, and costs around 40 lakhs. It features Varma's "Lady Music" painting. The saree weighs
around 8 kg and took almost a year to manufacture for The Chennai Silks.

Bollywood filmmaker Ketan Mehta directed a movie Rang Rasiya on the life of Varma which was
released in 2014 in which Randeep Hooda played the role of the artist.

Indian director Lenin Rajendran made a Malayalam movie named Makaramanju (The Mist of
Capricorn) in 2010, which narrates Varma's life at a certain stage in his life. Indian
director/cinematographer Santhosh Sivan played the lead role of Varma.

The Marathi textbook of the Maharashtra State Board contains a chapter titled 'अअअअअअ अअअ'
meaning 'A Meeting Like Never Before' portraying Varma meeting Swami Vivekananda. It has been
edited from the novel 'अअअअ अअअअअअअअ (Raja Ravi Varma)' written by Ranjit Desai.[citation
needed]

Bibliography

English

Raja Ravi Varma: Painter of Colonial Indian by Rupika Chawla, Pub: Mapin Publishing, Ahmedabad,
March 2010.

Raja Ravi Varma – Oleographs Catalogue by D.Jegat Ishwari, Pub: ShriParasuraman, Chennai, 2010,
ISBN 9788191002614

Ravi Varma Classic: 2008, Genesis Art Foundation, Cochin-18;45 clour plate with text by Vijayakumar
Menon.

The Painter: A life of Ravi Varma by Deepanjana Pal Random House India, 2011 ISBN 9788184002614

Raja Ravi Varma – The Most Celebrated Painter of India: 1848–1906, Parsram Mangharam,
Bangalore, 2007
Raja Ravi Varma – The Painter Prince: 1848–1906, Parsram Mangharam, Bangalore, 2003

Raja Ravi Varma and the Printed Gods of India, Erwin Neumayer & Christine Schelberger, New Delhi,
Oxford University Press, 2003

Raja Ravi Varma: The Most Celebrated Painter of India : 1848 – 1906, Classic Collection, Vol I & II.
Bangalore, Parsram Mangharam, 2005

Raja Ravi Varma: Portrait of an Artist, The Diary of C. Raja Raja Varma/edited by Erwin Neumayer
and Christine Schelberger. New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2005

Divine Lithography, Enrico Castelli and Giovanni Aprile, New Delhi, Il Tamburo Parlante
Documentation Centre and Ethnographic Museum, 2005

Photos of the Gods: The Printed Image and Political Struggle in India by Christopher Pinney. London,
Reaktion Book, 2004

Raja Ravi Varma:Raja Ravi Varma:E.M Joseph Venniyur, former director of AIR

Raja Ravi Varma: A Novel, Ranjit Desai -Translated by Vikrant Pande, Pub: Harper Perennial (2013),
ISBN 9789350296615

Pages of a Mind: Life and Expressions, Raja Ravi Varma, Pub: Piramal Art Foundation (2016), ISBN
9788193066805

Malayalam

Ravi Varma – A critical study by Vijayakumar Menon, Pub: Kerala Lalitha Kala Akademy, Trissur, 2002

Raja Ravi Varmayum chitrkalayum, Kilimanoor Chandran, Department of Cultural Publications, Kerala
Government, 1999.

Chithramezhuthu Koyithampuran, P. N. Narayana Pillai.

Raja Ravi Varma, N. Balakrishnan Nair.

Marathi

"Raja Ravi Varma", a novel by Marathi language novelist Ranjit Desai translated into English by
Vikrant Pande.

Notes and references

Joshi, Om Prakash (1985). Sociology of Indian art. Rawat Publications. p. 40.

K.R.N. Swamy (28 April 2002). "A great painter, no doubt, but controversial too". Spectrum–The
Tribune. Retrieved 28 October 2014.

Nagam Aiya, The Travancore State Manual

"Restoring works of art". The Hindu. Retrieved 18 April 2015.

PAL, DEEPANJANA (2011). THE PAINTER. Random House India. ISBN 9788184002614. Retrieved 18
April 2015.

"The Diary of C. Rajaraja Varma"

Mitter, Partha (1994). Art and Nationalism in Colonial India, 1850-1922: Occidental Orientations.
Cambridge University Press. pp. 69, 193, 208. ISBN 978-0-52144-354-8.

Kilimanoor Chandran, Ravi Varmayum Chitrakalayum(in Malayalam), Department of Culture, Kerala,

1998.

Vadodara, Lakshmi Vilas Palace. "Raja Ravi Varma Paintings, Vadodara". www.historyofvadodara.in.

Davis, Richard (2012). Gods in Print: Masterpiece of India's Mythological Art. San Rafael, California:
Mandala Publishing. p. 83. ISBN 9781608871094.

"Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature". Planetarynames.we.ugs.gov.

"Raja Ravi Varma Award". Thehindu.com. 11 February 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2018.

Kapur, Geeta (2000). What Was Modernism: Essays on Contemporary Cultural Practice in India
(PDF). New Delhi: Tulika. p. 147. ISBN 81-89487-24-8. Retrieved 22 August 2019.

Sheikh, Gulam Mohammed. "Ravi Varma in Baroda" (PDF). Asia Art Archive. Retrieved 22 August
2019.

Parimoo, Ratan (16 November 1975). "Kitsch: The Vulgarisation of Art". The Times of India.
Retrieved 22 August 2019.

Parimoo, Ratan. "Pop Art with Religious Motifs" (PDF). Asia Art Archive. Retrieved 22 August 2019.

Asian Art Department. "Unity in Diversity". Art Gallery of New South Wales. Retrieved 22 August
2019.