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| Devi Saraswati by Raja Ravi Varma |
Raja Ravi Varma: Kesar-i-Hind
Today is 2nd October, and we all know it is
birthday of Gandhiji and Lal bahadur Shastriji. However, I’m not writing on
them today. It is 109th death anniversary of Raja Ravi Varma. People
must have heard this name, but sadly, they don’t know much about Raja Ravi
Varma. Well, I’m going to talk about him.
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| Raja Ravi Varma |
Raja Ravi Varma was one of the greatest painters this nation
has ever seen. He was born in Killiminore of British India. He was an
artist from his childhood. Yes, art was in his soul. At the young age when he
married, he started his true painting career. Initially, he didn’t succeed. But
then the king of Travancore himself appreciated his arts. And for your kind
information, Raja Ravi Varma was not a king of any state. He was awarded with
the title of Raja by King of Travancore, so that no could underestimate an
artist. Raja Ravi Varma was king of art.
He had to later move to Bombay due to accidental death of
King of Travancore, where he was welcomed by Madhavrao ji who was incharge of
Bombay under the King of Baroda State, Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad. His glory
spread in all over the country and he was even praised by Britishers. Then, one
day Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad himself called him to Baroda and asked him to go
Europe and make copies of incredible arts for his palace. However, Raja Ravi
Varma refused to copy, and he asked him to give him opportunity to create own
arts. Maharaja approved. Raja Ravi Varma believed that India had the vast
culture and epics. We have Ramayana and Mahabharata, which have many incredible
stories. But Raja Ravi Varma asked time to travel the whole country to
understand from where these stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata began. Maharaja
sponsored him to travel. When he finished travelling, his head was full of
stories and creativity. He painted all the stories of Mahabharata and Ramayana,
and it was the first time when the gods received faces. Raja Ravi Varma painted
gods for the first time. The paintings which we worship in our temples, or we
decorate our homes and we use them on tiles, are actually painted by Raja Ravi
Varma. Most of the people don’t know that. But for your information, I would
attach few works of him.
Then, Raja Ravi Varma requested Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad
for an open exhibition. He wanted common public to see those arts and review
them. Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad arranged an open exhibition in his tremendous
Laxmi Vilas palace, and all people were welcomed to see those arts. And poor
people who hadn’t seen gods with faces, started worshipping in front of those
paintings. No one could believe that gods could look like us. But Raja Ravi
Varma did it. He poured life into those mythological stories, and he gave faces
to gods and goddesses. The sarees he painted of goddesses, became new trend in
the market. Then he started his own printing press to print those paintings, so
that they could reach at each home of this country. In those days, the lower
caste people weren’t allowed in the temples and they hadn’t seen gods. But Raja
Ravi Varma gave them gods through his paintings. Everyone could buy those
paintings and decorate their homes with them. Now you know that glory of Raja
Ravi Varma.
However, his late works had nudity in paintings, which was
natural. You see our temples and engravings of the temples, you’ll see the
Kamasutra carved in the temples. Raja Ravi Varma portrayed Apsaras and
goddesses as they were mentioned in epics. But few religious organizations
accused him to mislead people and spreading nudity in public. However, Raja
Ravi Varma won the case and he explained people that this is a country where
the Kamasutra was created. It is in our culture. That’s not nudity. That’s what
life is. Why should we ashamed of anything? And the world accepted his painting
gladly. However, still few organizations are opposing his paintings, but no one
could deny that fact that he painted master-pieces.
The stories we know now, the gods we see in our homes and
temples, all credits belong to Raja Ravi Varma. If he hadn’t done that, we
could never see gods. That’s why later, he was awarded as Kesar-i-Hind by
British Government. His paintings are still secured in the Royal Museum at
Vadodara. If you people desire to watch them, or you have any curiosity for art
and culture, you may visit Vadodara and the museum.
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| Hall of Laxmi Vilas Palace where the first exhibition was arranged |
Dadasaheb Phalke, who is known as the father of Indian Cinema,
was young at that time. He was financially helped by Raja Ravi Varma who was
very keen to see the world with new technology named, Cinematography. Dadasaheb
Phalke started his own Cinema and later it became Bollywood.
Now this was the greatest personality of Raja Ravi Varma. As
I said, he was the king of art. He has been my inspiration since I studied
about his life and paintings. And his glory is like the sun, which will stay
forever. Vadodara still feels proud that the city was host and their Laxmi
Vilas Palace was the first place where his paintings were first exhibited.
Arts by Raja Ravi Varma:
First let me start with famous arts:
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| Goddess Lakshmi |
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| Lord Ram, Sita, Laxman and Hanuman |
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| Arjun and Subhadra |
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| Dattatreya |
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| Ravan abducting Sita (Jatayu Vadh) |
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| Shantanu and Satyavati |
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| Shiva Parvati and Ganesha |
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| Pandavas and Draupadi |
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| Ganesha with Ashtasiddhi |
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| Bharat (Son of Shakuntala and Dushyant) |
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| Bhishma Oath |
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| Death of Karna |
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| Ganga Avtaran (Descend of Ganga) |
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| Draupadi |
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| Draupadi humiliated (Chiraharan) |
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| Krishna as Envoy (Shantidoot at Hastinapur) |
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| Mirabai |
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| Mohini - Female Avatar of Lord Vishnu |
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| Radha Madhavam |
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| Yashoda and Krishna |
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| Rama breaking the bow at Swayamwara |
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| Lord Vishnu on Garuda |
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| Ganga taking Bhishma away |
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| Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad by Raja Ravi Varma |
I showed you his major works, and you can imagine difficulties because they were made in 19th century. And you must have seen most of works before. If you want to know about his life and tragedies and if you don't like reading, you may see a movie named Rang Rasiya, directed by Ketan Mehta and Randip Hooda incredibly played role of Raja Ravi Varma. Thanks for reading.
