Raja Ravi Varma

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Raja Ravi Varma

Born April 29,1848
Kilimanoor, Kerala, India
Died October 2,1906
Kilimanoor, Kerala, India
Occupation Painter

Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906) was an Indian painter who achieved recognition for his depiction of scenes from the epics of the Mahabharata and Ramayana. His paintings are considered to be among the best examples of the fusion of Indian traditions with the techniques of European academic art.

Raja Ravi Varma is most remembered for his paintings of beautiful sari clad women, who were portrayed as very shapely and graceful. His exposure in the west came when he won the first prize in Vienna Art Exhibition in 1873. After a successful career as a painter, Raja Ravi Varma died in (1906) at the age of 58. He is generally considered as one among the greatest painters in the history of Indian art.

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Ravi Varma, Woman Playing the Veena
Ravi Varma, Woman Playing the Veena

Ravi Varma was born to Umamba Thampuratti and Neelakandan Bhattathiripad in the royal palace of Kilimanoor, which is situated 25 miles from Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), in Kerala, India. Ravi Varma showed talent at a young age. He got the patronage of Ayilyam Thirunal Maharaja of Travancore when he was 14 years of age, and was taught by the palace painter Rama Swamy Naidu. He was later taught oil painting by a British painter, Theodor Jenson. The power and forceful expression of European painting fascinated Ravi Varma, which came across to him as strikingly contrasting to stylized Indian artwork.

One of few landscapes painted by Raja Ravi Varma
One of few landscapes painted by Raja Ravi Varma

Raja Ravi Varma came to widespread acclaim after he won an award for an exhibition of his paintings at Vienna in 1873[1] . He travelled throughout India in search of subjects. He often modeled Hindu Goddesses on South 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. However his work remains very popular in India.

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Ravi Varma, Shakuntala, a character in the epic Mahabharata
Ravi Varma, Shakuntala, a character in the epic Mahabharata

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

  • Village Belle
  • Lady Lost in Thought
  • Damayanti Talking to a Swan
  • The Orchestra
  • Arjuna and Subhadra
  • Lady with lemon
  • The Heartbroken
  • Swarbat Player
  • Shakuntala
  • Lord Krishna as Ambassador
  • Jatayu, a bird devotee of Lord Rama is mauled by Rawana
  • Victory of Indrajit
  • A Family of Beggars
  • A Lady Playing Swarbat
  • Lady Giving Alms at the Temple
  • Lord Rama Conquers Varuna
  • 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)

Raja Ravi Varma's philosophical outlook is not known or documented, especially his understanding of Western Art forms, though it should be acknowledged that he received formal and systematic training. Those who seek to critically examine his contribution are severely impaired in their project by the absence of any literature written by him. (one would require an interpretation of the diary[2] maintained by his younger Brother, C. Raja Raja Varma, himself an accomplished painter, who in later years assisted him in his paintings and was his personal secretary. [3]

Ravi Varma's There comes Papa: Lady with Child. The lady in the picture is his daughter Rani Mahaprabha of Mavelikara, mother of Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi of Travancore
Ravi Varma's There comes Papa: Lady with Child. The lady in the picture is his daughter Rani Mahaprabha of Mavelikara, mother of Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi of Travancore

Raja Ravi Varma is often criticized for the fact that his paintings overshadowed traditional Indian art forms because of their widespread reproduction as oleographs, flooding Indian culture with his version of Indian myths, portrayed with a rather static realism. According to Dasgupta[citation needed], by dispensing with stylisation in favor of stiff academicism, Ravi Varma can be considered as having in one stroke undermined traditional Indian art, which was both dynamic and rich in form and content. One can find an illustration of this argument in the figures of Durga in West Bengal[4] or in the folk form of Madhubani Paintings[5]. In comparison, Ravi Varma's approach[6] clearly lacks this dynamism of expression. Moreover, his approach of frontality has severe limitations in terms of space and movement. By rejecting the traditional models of representation (for example, the Chitrasutra, the treatise on art outlined in Vishnudharmottara Purana), he has reduced mythic heroes to the level of ordinary humans, a form that has been copied in many depictions of mythic history in other media such as cinema and television. Dadasaheb Phalke, considered the father of Indian cinema, is thought to have been influenced by Ravi Varma's static realism.

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. Awardees include:

A college dedicated to fine arts was also constituted in his honour at Mavelikara, Kerala. The renewed interest in Ravi Varma has spilled into the area of popular culture as films and music videos have started using his images.

Raja Ravi Varma was married to Rani Bhageerathi Bayi (Kochu Pangi Amma) of the Mavelikara Royal Family and to them were born three sons and two daughters. Their eldest son, Prince Kerala Varma, born in 1876 went missing in 1912 and was never heard from again. Their second son was Prince Rama Varma (b.1879), an artist who studied at the JJ School of Arts, Bombay, married to Srimathi Gowri Kunjamma, sister of Dewan PGN Unnithan. Their next son was Prince Raja Raja Varma. Raja Ravi Varma's elder daughter, Princess Mahaprabha, appears in two of his prominent paintings and was mother of Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi of Travancore. He had one more daughter, Princess Uma Bayi. His descendants comprise the Mavelikara Royal family while two of his granddaughters, including the said Sethu Lakshmi Bayi, were adopted to the Travancore Royal Family, the cousin family of the Mavelikara House, to which lineage the present Travancore Maharajah belongs.

  • 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 Varmayum chitrkalayum, Kilimanoor Chandran, Department of Culturural Publications, Kerala Government,1999.
  • Chithramezhuthu Koyithampuran ,P.N Narayana Pillai.
  • Raja Ravi Varma, N. Balakrishnan Nair.


  1. ^ Kilimanoor Chandran, Ravi Varmayum Chitrakalayum(in Malyalam), Department of Culture, Kerala, 1998
  2. ^ A tour in Upper India, C . Raja Raja Varma was translated and published in a malayalam journal Thilakam edited by G Shankara Kurup, now out of print
  3. ^ "Raja Ravi Varma: Portrait of an Artist". May 05, 2006 Oxford University Press.
  4. ^ Durga in West Bengal
  5. ^ Madhubani Paintings
  6. ^ Ravi Varma's approach
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