Raja Ravi Varma

You're imagining yourself in the 80s with AI but did you know who imagined & created the images of the Gods & Goddesses we worship in our homes today?

That's Raja Ravi Varma & here's his story.

Ravi Varma was born in 1848 in Travancore, present-day Kerala, in an aristocratic family. His title "Raja" came to him much later in 1904 as part of the Kaisar-i-Hind citation he was awarded by a Viceroy.

With his mom a poet, his father a Sanskrit & Ayurveda scholar, and his uncle a painter - he grew up in a creative environment.

Varma took 9 years to master oil, perspective & color-mixing.

By 1873 he had Vienna recognition & Madras award, for his portraits & paintings - and he took a pan-India tour to learn local types & costumes.

One of his most defining patronages came from Baroda, or Vadodara, where he was commissioned for 14 large Puranic canvases in the Lakshmi Vilas Palace.

He tried to establish a Press in 1894 in Bombay but the plague outbreak, mounting debt, piracy all force him to sell it off.

Regardless, Varma commanded thousands of paintings over the years, and amongst them, his depictions of our Hindu Deities as well as Epic characters stand tall.

Earlier, we had 2d, flat visual understanding of these powers but Varma used a European Victorian toolkit to give them a human, natural, realistic shape - establishing the base canvas & visual grammar for how we imagine & draw our Gods.

Shakuntala, Hamsa & Damayanti, Draupadi Vastraharan, Jatayu Vadha, Harishchandra and depictions of Ma Saraswati & Ma Lakshmi & Krishna - with his strokes, he standardised the templated style of visuals that live in millions of homes, temples, posters & galleries across India.

Although his work was criticised by Bengal School critics of the Swadeshi era for being Western, he made Sanatan powers feel more modern, relatable, human, approachable & accessible to the masses.

Varma passed away at 58 in 1906 & you can visit his legacy in the art galleries of Vadodara, Thiruvananthapuram, and Mysore.