Raja Ravi Varma (1848–1906) was a painter from minor royalty in what is today Kerala state in southwest India. From a very early age, he took to painting, and was encouraged by many in an artistic family. After apparently being rejected as a court painter at the age of thirteen because his skin was too dark, he kept learning from visiting Indian and English painters. In his mid-twenties he won a prize at an exhibition in Chennai. From then on, patronage by successive British Governor- Generals and Indian feudal rulers was assured. Ravi Varma’s fusion of Western perspective, the new medium of oil painting, Hindu mythology and photography continue to have mass appeal to Indian audiences today. In 1892 they took the bold step of investing the enormous sum of Rs. 80,000 in a printing press (at the time, Ravi Varma was earning Rs. 1500 from a reluctant-to-pay Maharajah for a portrait that took weeks to execute). Dadabhai Naoroji (1825–1917), an early Parsi Independence leader from Mumbai, is said to have arranged for Germans to come over and bring the steam-driven lithographic press with them. The Press was sold to the Germans in 1903, and they received rights to reproduce some of Ravi Varma's most famous paintings, which they did in many forms, including the postcards shown below.
Damayanti was the wife of Nala, the king of Nishadha Kingdom
[Original caption] Being separated from her husband Nala, the fair Damayanti enters her fathers place, yet feeling deeply for her husband, she is represented as sitting in a moon light, her
[Original caption] A love scene between Radha and her consort Lord Krishna. [end]
Lord Krishna spent his earlier life in Vrindavan where the Gopis or cow-herd girls offered him company. Radha was considered the chief gopi.
[Original caption] The Goddess of beauty sitting on a swing [end]
This image by Ravi Varma was one of his most successful in calendar art. Shown here she is perfect and ordinary, ideal yet accessible.
[Original caption] Kirata Bhilli:– God Shankar dressed as a hunter and Goddess Parvati as huntress. [end]
[Original caption] Sita Vanawasa :– Sita, when captured by Ravan, the king of Lanka, was carried and kept in a forest named "Ashok-van" by him, and he ordered demons to watch her. This picture represents that Sita sat thinking under a tree. [end]
[Original caption, verso] Haunsa Damayanti Sanvada:–The bird Haunsa gave and extols to Damayanti all about Nala, when she is in a garden. [end]
[Original caption] Shakuntala writing a love letter. Shakuntala while she was dwelling in a forest, near the river. Malini writes a letter on a lotus leaf to Deshyanta feeling doubtful if he loved her. [end]
From one of the best known paintings by
[Original recto] Sira's Marriage :–Marriage of Sita with Rama. [end]
"Sita's Marriage" is a treasured story from the great Indian epic, the Ramayana.
[Original caption] Jatayu-Vadha: - Ravana, while carrying away Sita, is being attacked by the bird Jatayu, with whom he fights. [end]
Jatayu, the holy bird, lived in Panchavati close to the hut of Rama.
[Original caption] Shankar receives the river Ganga on his head in compliance with the prayers of Bhageeratha. [end]
This image is from a famous painting by Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906), one of India's most important painters.
