Raja Ravi Varma, one of the greatest Indian artists of the modern era, whose paintings bought our Puranas and epics to life. “As beautiful as a Ravi Varma painting ” was the best compliment you could give a woman. Thread on his Jayanti today. He combined the traditional European art style with a very Indian sensibility. Also one of the first artistes to go public, when he made his lithographs available at resaonable rates. Closely related to the Travancore Royal family, his biggest achievement was bringing art to the common people, it was no longer a preserve of the elite. He made his lithographs affordable to the commoners, and ordinary people imagined Hindu Deities, Puranic icons from his paintings.

Ravi Varma was born at Kilimanoor, one of the estates in the Travancore kingdom, that had close ties with the royal family. His mother Uma Ambabayi, was a poet, while his father Ezhumavil Neelakanthan from Erankulam was a Sanskrit scholar of note. When he was 18, Ravi Varma was married to Bhageerathi Bayi of the Mavelikara royal family, which was a branch of the Travancore Royal family itself, Bhageerathi was adopted by the Travancore family. Of their 5 children, the eldest one Kerala Varma, adopted a spiritual path, never marrying. Rama Varma their youngest born in 1879, became an artiste like his father studied at Mumbai’s JJ School of Arts, his grand daughters would later be adopted by the Travancore family. The later Travancore rulers Chithira Thirunal( the last ruling Maharaja) was a descendant of Ravi Varma through his grandddaughter. As also Maharaja Marthanda Varma and the currrent ruler Rama Varma VII, all of whom are related to Raja Ravi Varma. On his Jayanti today, take time to pay tribute to Raja Ravi Varma, one of the greatest Indian artistes ever, who created some memorable works.

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