Summary

Raja Ravi Varma (Trivandrum, April 29, 1848) was an Indian painter, born under British rule, in the princely state of Travancore, now in Kerala. He is considered a great painter for Indian art and an artist of international academic reputation for advocating a pictorial integration of Indian traditions and European techniques; he became famous through his works representing topical events in his country's literature, especially the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa. Varma also made portraits of women wearing saris, which are still reproduced today and can be found in many mansions and homes.

Ravi Varma Koil Thampuran was born in Kilimanoor Palace to Neelakanthan Bhattatiripad, an accomplished scholar, and the poet and writer Umayamba, whose writings were published posthumously in the collection Parvati Swayamvaram by Varma. He had three brothers, Goda in 1854, Raja (C. Raja Raja Varma) in 1860 and Mangala Bayi, who were also painters. As per Marumakkathayam tradition, his maternal uncle's name (Raja Raja Varma) was put before his own thus being referred to as Raja Ravi Varma.

Varma was in the employ of Maharaja Ayilyam Thirunal before he began his formal education. He learned the first procedures on painting in Madurai. Later he was a disciple of Rama Swami Naidu, who trained him in watercolor, and of Dutch portrait painter Theodor Jenson in oil painting.

Varma received wide acclaim after winning an award for an exhibition of his work in Vienna in 1873. Paintings by Varma were also taken to the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, where he won three gold medals.

He traveled around his country looking for subjects. He took local women from southern India as models to paint his Hindu goddesses.

Varma married Pururuttathi Nal Bhageerathi of the Royal House of Mavelikkara, by whom he had five children; two boys and three girls. Their firstborn son, Kerala Varma, who was born in 1876, mysteriously disappeared in 1912. Their second son, Rama Varma, born in 1879, studied art at the J.J. School of Arts in Mumbai, later married Gowri Kunjamma, sister of Dewan P.G.N. Unnithan. Ayilyam Nal Mahaprabha, the oldest daughter, who appears in two famous paintings of her father, was mother of Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi and grandmother of Maharaja Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma. Ayilyam Nal Cheria Kochamma, the third-born daughter in 1882, was another prominent local aristocrat.

He started, on the advice of Dewan Madav Rao, a lithographic printing business in 1894 in Ghatkopar, now a suburb of Mumbai, then moved to Malavli in Maharashtra in 1899. The house was run by Varma's brother Raja Varma. In 1901 it was sold to the company's in-house German technician, Mr. Schleizer, who terminated it due to his death in an arson accident. The main themes of the oleographs were mostly scenes from the Mahābhārata, Ramayana and the Purāṇa, became iconic and continued to be printed after Varma's death for many years.

In 1904, Viceroy George Curzon, on behalf of the emperor, awarded Varma the "Kaiser-i-Hind" Gold Medal.

A College for Fine Arts in Mavelikkara was also dedicated to him. To this day several institutions in the country bear his name. A crater on Mercury was named after him in 2013. The Government of Kerala established the "Raja Ravi Varma Puraskaram," an award presented annually to personalities from the world of art and entertainment.

Ravi Varma is particularly known for bringing the stories told in the Mahābhārata onto canvases. His mythical depictions contributed to the knowledge and identification of India's epic heritage. Although he was subjected to criticism for his style, his work remains popular in India to this day. Many of his fabulous paintings are preserved at the Laxmi Vilas Palace in Baroda, where he was a longtime resident.

Sources

1. Raja Ravi Varma
2. Raja Ravi Varma
3. ^ Joshi, Om Prakash (1985). Sociology of Indian art. Rawat Publications. p. 40.
4. ^ Nagam Aiya, The Travancore State Manual
5. ^ Lord Padmanabha and his dasas Archived 8 February 2023 at the Wayback Machine indianculture.gov.in. Retrieved 31 July 2021
6. ^ a b Om Prakash Joshi, p. 40.
7. ^ Partha Mitter, capitolo 5.
8. Raya Ravi Varma estuvo casado con Pururuttathi Nal Bhagirathi Amma Thampuran (Kochu Pangi), de la casa real de Mavelikara, con quien tuvo dos hijos y tres hijas. Su hijo mayor, Kerala Varma, nacido en 1876, desapareció en 1912 y nunca más se supo de él. Su segundo hijo fue Rama Varma (nacido en 1879), un artista que estudió en la Escuela de Artes JJ, Mumbai, casado con Srimathi Gowri Kunjamma, hermana de Dewan PGN Unnithan. La hija mayor de Raya Ravi Varma Ayilyam Nal Mahaprabha Thampuran, apareció en dos de sus cuadros prominentes y fue la madre de Maharani Pooradam Thirunal Sethu Laksmi Bayi de Travancore. Tuvo una segunda hija, Thiruvadira Nal Kochukunji Thampuran, abuela de Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma Maharás. Su tercera hija, nacida en 1882, fue Ayilyam Nal Cheria Kochamma Thampuran. Entre sus descendientes pueden mencionarse el escritor ShriKumar Varma (príncipe Punardam Thirunal), la artista Rukmini Varma (princesa Bharani Thirunal), el artista Jay Varma y el músico clásico Aswathi Thirunal Rama Varma.
9. Julien Rousseau, Hélène Kessous et Laure Bataillou, Bollywood Superstars: histoire d'un cinéma indien, France Muséums Kaph Books Department of Culture and Tourism, 2023 (ISBN 978-614-8035-51-7), p.55.