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Raja Ravi Varma

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Ravi Varma Covil Thampuran
Born29 April 1848[1][2]
Kilimanoor, Travancore
Died2 October 1906(1906-10-02) (aged 58)
Attingal, Travancore, British Raj
Occupation(s)Painter, artist
Signature
Jatayu struck down by Ravana from Ramayana

Raja Ravi Varma Koil Thampuran[3] (29 April 1848 – 2 October 1906) was an Indian painter and artist from the princely state of Travancore (now southern Kerala and parts of Tamil Nadu) who achieved recognition for his paintings depicting scenes from Indian literature and mythology including the epics Mahabharata and Ramayana. He is considered among the greatest painters in the history of Indian art and his works among the best examples of the fusion of Indian traditions with the techniques of European academic art[citation needed]. Varma's paintings portrayed sari-clad women in a graceful manner, which became an important motif of that time with reproductions being found in many homes.[4]

Personal life

Raja Ravi Varma was born as Ravi Varma Koil Thampuran [5] at Kilimanoor palace in the erstwhile princely state of Travancore (present-day Kerala). His family, which ruled the vast feudal estate of Kilimanoor, was closely related to the Royal Family of Travancore, and "Koil Thampuran" was the princely or ducal title held by the men of the family. They belonged to the Nair caste, the land-owning aristocracy of Travancore Kingdom, which follows the matrilineal Marumakkathayam tradition, under which family affiliation and succession to estates is determined by descent through women. Thus, Ravi Varma belonged to the family of his mother (not his father), and his children belonged to the family of their mother (not his own).

Ravi Varma's mother, Umayamba Thampuratty, belonged to the baronial family which ruled the Kilimanoor feudal estate within the kingdom of Travancore (Thampuratty is the female form of Thampuran). She was a poet and writer of some talent, whose work Parvati Swayamvaram was published by Varma after her death. In keeping with the Sambandam tradition of matrimony which was prevalent in those days, she had married a Brahmin gentleman in preference to a man of her own Nair caste. Ravi Varma's father, Ezhumavil Neelakanthan Bhattatiripad, was a Brahmin and a very learned scholar of Sanskrit and Ayurveda who hailed from the Ernakulam district in Kerala. Ravi Varma had three siblings, two brothers named Goda Varma (born 1854) and Raja Varma (born 1860) and a sister, Mangala Bayi, who was also a painter.

When Varma was still a teenager, he was married to 13-year-old Bhageerthi Bayi (known formally as Pooruruttati Nal Bhageerathi 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, and Ravi Varma's children would be born royal. The marriage, which was arranged by their parents in the proper Indian manner, was harmonious and successful. The couple were blessed with five children, being two sons and three daughters. Their elder son, Kerala Varma (b.1876) was of an excessively spiritual temperament who never married and who finally 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.

It was however Ravi Varma's daughters who were singled out by destiny for greatness, although not in the field of art. The three daughters of Ravi Varma and Umayamba Thampuratty were Mahaprabha (who features in two of Varma's most famous paintings), Bhageerthi (named after Varma's mother) and Cheria Kochamma. In 1900 CE, the Royal House of Travancore faced a succession crisis. Maharaja Rama Varma VI (Moolam Thirunal) was the last of his line and had no heirs. It was necessary to make an adoption, and tradition dictated that two girls belonging to distant branches of the Royal Family be adopted together. Their sons would become maharajas, and the future succession would pass through the daughters of those adopted girls, in accordance with the unusual and unique Marumakkayatham system of succession.

Two of Verma's grand-daughters were called by destiny to receive this surpassing honour, the main reason being that through their mother Umayamba, they were the nearest matrilineal (cognatic) kin of Maharaja Rama Varma VI. In August 1900, Mahaprabha's eldest daughter Lakshmi Bayi (aged 5 years) and Bhagirthi's eldest daughter Parvati Bayi (aged 4 years) were adopted into the Royal family of Travancore. Mahaprabha daughter became Maharani Pooradam thirunal Sethu Lakshmi Bayi, the Regent of Travancore. Their second child grew up to become Amma Maharani Moolam Thirunal Sethu Parvathi Bayi, the mother of Maharajah Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma. Well known among Varma's descendants are writers Aswathi Thirunal Gowri Lakshmi Bayi, Shreekumar Varma, artist Rukmini Varma and classical musician Aswathi Thirunal Rama Varma among others.

Art career

Varma was patronized by Ayilyam Thirunal, the then 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.

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 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 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 & 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 press was managed by Varma's brother, Raja Varma. In 1901 the press was sold to his printing technician from Germany, Mr. Schleicher and later closed down after it was gutted in an accidental fire.[10] 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.

Honours

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 School 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.

List of major works

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

  • Bollywood film maker Ketan Mehta directed a movie Rang Rasiya on the life of Varma 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 Maharashtra State Board contains a chapter titled 'अपूर्व भेट' meaning 'A Meeting Like Never Before' portraying Varma meeting Swami Vivekananda. It has been edited from the novel 'राजा रविवर्मा (Raja Ravi Varma)' written by Ranjit Desai.

Bibliography

English

  • Raja Ravi Varma: Painter of Colonial Indian by Rupika Chawla, Pub: Mapin Publishing, Ahmedabad, March 2010,
  • Raja Ravi Varma – Oleographs Catalogueby Dr. 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.
  • 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

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

See also

Notes and references

  1. ^ Joshi, Om Prakash (1985). Sociology of Indian art. Rawat Publications. p. 40.
  2. ^ K.R.N. Swamy (28 April 2002). "A great painter, no doubt, but controversial too". Spectrum–The Tribune. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  3. ^ "Restoring works of art". The Hindu. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  4. ^ Mitter, Partha (1994). "5 – The Artist as Charismatic Individual – Raja Ravi Varma". Art and nationalism in colonial India, 1850–1922: occidental orientations. Cambridge University Press. pp. 179–215. ISBN 978-0-521-44354-8. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  5. ^ PAL, DEEPANJANA (2011). THE PAINTER. Random House India. ISBN 9788184002614. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  6. ^ "The Diary of C. Rajaraja Varma"
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ Kilimanoor Chandran, Ravi Varmayum Chitrakalayum(in Malayalam), Department of Culture, Kerala, 1998.
  9. ^ Vadodara, Lakshmi Vilas Palace. "Raja Ravi Varma Paintings, Vadodara". www.historyofvadodara.in.
  10. ^ Raja Ravi Varma Prints - Google Sites http://sites.google.com/site/ravivarmalithos/
  11. ^ "Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature".

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