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Ravi Varma – The Sprawling World of a Genius
Based on the truism that most gifted people have varied Ravi Varma in traditional clothes and as the modern
interests and preoccupations, Ravi Varma the painter and turn-of-the-century man.
path-breaker, would not have been as well known as he is
today had he not been blessed with great energy and a love experientially. They breathed in the modernity of the
of adventure. It is this particular quality that propelled him cosmopolitan city and the stimulation of lively conversation
out of his ancestral home of Kilimanur, near Trivandrum, with Bombay’s socio-political elite. They enjoyed the
close to the southern tip of India, into the larger, northern theatre, exhibitions at the Bombay Art Society, bookshops
peninsula. His vehicle was the developing network of and shops selling artists material imported from England. It
railways being laid by the British and the now defunct steam was in Bombay that they first exchanged their traditional
engine train. For over thirty years, he and his brother Raja Malayali cotton mundu and upper cloth for hybridised
Raja Varma rumbled and rattled in hot and sooty train stitched clothes that were fashionable at that time,
compartments as they criss-crossed the country in search combining western and Indian garments.
of exploration, experience and painting commissions.
Ravi Varma realised only too well that he was visually
Kilimanur Palace today viewed from across paddy fields. This was Ravi reviving the Puranic stories in a manner not done before. He
Varma’s large family home where over two hundred people lived. was equally aware that his reach was limited only to the
wealthy few and that it was physically impossible for him to
Ravi Varma invited commissions from princely states, paint more than he did. His aspirations filled him with the
palatial homes and successful professionals, creating desire to expose fine arts to the common people and
paintings, developing patronage and making friends he needed to know how that was to be done. This is when
wherever he went. In today’s terms he was definitely a he became an entrepreneur and Bombay was the place
‘networker’ and a celebrity who was constantly written where this enterprise started. His project involved the
about in the newspapers of that time, namely the Hindu, the dissemination of chromolithographs or oleograph prints
Times of India, Malayalam Manorama and the Kesari. over the entire country comprising of images of gods,
goddesses, maharajas, apsaras and those linked with
But he remained loyal and true to the environment that had mythological stories familiar with the people at large. Our
nurtured him from childhood and brought to him the perception today of such themes is based on Ravi Varma’s
Sanscritic background that enriched him and gave him visualisation of ancient oral, written and performance
the wisdom to define the mythological paintings that he narrative.
made. His understanding of a particular Puranic narrative
and the details involved thereof, guided his paintbrush into Chromolithography was a comparatively new invention in
images of profound truth, bringing to life unforgettable Europe and was becoming very popular. It involved a
mythological and historic moments of the past that the laborious process of several lithostones for each coloured
people of his time knew and identified with. Patronage also lithograph print which could be mass produced because of
required portraits of glittering maharajas in court attire, the machinery that was made available. Ravi Varma was
images of gods, goddesses, apsaras and sensual beauties desirous of the best quality and production, for which
that have remained stamped on the Indian psyche till today. reason he hired Fritz Schleicher, a trained German
chromolithographer from Berlin and had the machinery
The state of being itinerant opened even further Ravi transported to the port at Bombay. Even Ravi Varma would
Varma’s lively imagination that perpetually kindled with
fresh and new ideas. Bombay, for example, was a city
he and his brother thrived upon, both intellectually and
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