Raja Ravi Varma Heritage Foundation is a not-for-profit institution that works to preserve and promote the artistic legacy of one of India’s greatest artists. Started by his great great granddaughter Bharani Thirunal Rukmini Bayi Tampuran in 2015.

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This print from the Ravi Varma Press is derived from a painting by Raja Ravi Varma depicts the courtship of Madalasa and Rutadhwaja. The print is also called “A Proposal of Marriage.” Markendeya Purana describes Madalasa as the most ideal and learned woman. Believed to be a Brahmavadini (a female expounder of the highest philosophical knowledge) Madalsa was the daughter of a Gandharva (celestial being) by the name of Vishvavasu. 
A unique story full of drama, the scene depicted in the paintings and subsequent print is much like a theatrical tableau. As the story goes, the heroic and noble king Rutudhwaja won over the beautiful Madalasa by killing the demon Patalaketu. The lithograph shows a triumphant Rutudhwaja seeking Madalsa’s hand in marriage, as she coyly faces away from him.

Archival Litho Print On Paper

Print

Madalasa

Rutudhwaja

Mahabharata

Based on an original oil painting of a similar title that is in the Maharaja Fatesingh Museum, Vadodara, this lithograph depicts a scene from the Mahabharata. 
When the Pandava brothers were exiled for 12 years, they spent their time travelling to different holy places. During one such visit to Prabhasa, the abode of Lord Krishna, Arjuna met Princess Subadhra, Lord Krishna, and Balarama's sister, who was said to be of incomparable beauty. However, Balarama, Lord Krishna’s brother, intended on marrying Subhadra to rival Kaurava prince Duryodhan. In a plan hatched by Lord Krishna’s, Arjuna entered the city in the disguise of a sanyasi (renunciant), and Balarama, who was fond of sages, invited him. Arjuna, then abducted Subadhra and took her deep into the forest where he can be seen trying to entice Subadhra and she shyly resists his advances.

Arjuna

Subadhra

Pandavas

The original oil painting on which the lithograph is based is called ‘Mohini on a Swing’. The lithograph is titled ‘Mohini: The Temptress’. This avatar of Lord Vishnu appears several times in scriptures - once when he adopts the form of a beautiful woman and beguiles the demons into acceding to give the nectar to the Gods first. The other time is when Lord Vishnu adopts the Mohini avatar to save Shiva from the threat of Bhasmasura.
Known for her ethereal beauty, Anjanibai Malpekar, a well-known classical singer of the time was the model for Mohini. 

In popular mythology, Mohini is believed to be an enchantress, a femme fatale who destroys her lovers. In this oleograph, Ravi Varma captures Mohini’s seductive and carefree nature by painting her in a sheer white sari, with bare arms, and untied hair.

Mohini

Vishnu

Dashavatar

Temptress

Mythology

Shakuntala was one of Raja Ravi Varma’s favourite characters and he made several paintings of her from different scenes of the story. Here Shakuntala is seen in sage Kanva’s hermitage with her companions Ansuya and Priyamvada. Ravi Varma who captured in her many moods and many more life incidents of the character gives a glimpse of a young and playful Shakuntala adorned in flowers with Anususya, Priyamvada, and a deer. Shakuntala’s white drape clashes against Anusuya and Priyamvada’s bright red and yellow sarees, a familiar trope used by artists to depict the nayika/heroine’s purity. The scene symbolically juxtaposes Shakuntala’s naive innocence where her friends tend to her with the deer’s fickleness. Unaware of the life-changing events, Shakuntala here is bliss personified.

Shakuntala

Anusuya

Priyamvada


Raja Ravi Varma painted many pictures of women playing musical instruments. This lithographic print is based on an original oil painting titled ‘Malabar Lady’ that is part of the collection painted by Raja Ravi Varma for the Maharaja of Mysore. A Malayalee lady, clad in a cream ‘mundu’ is seen playing a mandolin-like instrument that is placed against her knee. She is leaning against a table in opulent surroundings. Dressed simply but elegantly, the aristocratic woman is adorned in a ruby-studded necklace and earrings. As Sharada looks directly at the viewer, a heavy green cloth brings up the background as her right foot hangs languidly over a silk pillow.

This lithograph is extremely rare and the whereabouts of the original exemplar is not known.

Sharada

Malabar Lady

Mandolin

This oleograph portrays Ahalya, wife of sage Gautama. The tragic story of ‘Ahalya’ and Indra’s lust and subsequent revenge appears in the Valmiki Ramayana. Ahalya, who was seduced by Indra by treachery, was cursed by her husband to turn into a stone. She was eventually brought back to life by Lord Rama who was on his way to Janakpuri for Sita’s Swayamvar. Two different versions of Ahalya’s story were adapted into lithographic prints in the Ravi Varma Press. In this first depiction, Ahalya is dressed in a white saree and seen in the forest with a basket of flowers in her hand. The white represents a virtuous and pious woman, and the forest serves as an idyllic setting for Ahalya whose life was about to be turned upside down. 

Ahalya

Ramayana

Though this lithograph is titled ‘Madri’ (who was the second wife of Pandu, the father of the Pandavas), it is based on an original oil painting by the artist titled ‘Maharashtrian Lady With Fruit’. This painting of a lady in a red saree carrying a tray of fruit formed the exemplar for printing a chromolithograph titled 'Madri' from the Ravi Varma Press. The large-sized oil painting is presently part of the collection of the Travancore Royal Family, Thiruvananthapuram. This lithograph is extremely rare and the whereabouts of the original exemplar is not known. In this oleograph, Madri can be seen looking directly at the audience. Mahabharata’s Adi Parva’s chapter 13 describes Madri as a very beautiful woman of dark form draped in crimson silk incidentally congruous with the depiction of The Maharashtrian Lady.

Madri

Maharashtrian Lady With Fruit

The oleograph is titled Hamsa Damayanti Samvad. It tells the epic tale of one of Raja Ravi Varma’s most inspirational characters ‘Damayanti’ who appears in the Mahabharata. As per the story, swans that came to Damayanti’s palace extolled King Nala’s virtues and similarly told him of Damayanti’s extraordinary beauty. And from here commenced the eternal love story of Nala and Damayanti. With the messages of love being carried to and fro by the swans, Nala and Damyanti are drawn towards each other despite being miles away from each other, In this oleograph, Damayanti, who is eagerly waiting to hear from the swan is immensely relieved as the swan swoops in as she waits with bated breath to hear the latest news on her beloved. Raja Ravi Varma immortalized the moment when Damayanti meets the swan in Hamsa Damayanti Samvad translated to the 'Meeting of the Damayanti and the Swan'.

Hamsa Damayanti

Swan

Princess

This lithograph of ‘Chitralekha’ is based on an incident from the Bhagavata Purana. Usha, daughter of Banasura is the central figure. She is seated on the settee and draped in luminescent yellow. Usha is unable to identify the prince she saw in her dream and fell in love with him. She is desperately trying to identify him and helping her in the endeavor is her companion Chitralekha (lit. painter), who is holding a paintbrush in her right hand and is painting pictures of all the princes known to her. She finally paints a picture of Aniruddha, the grandson of Krishna (seen in the picture by the table). Aniruddha is the son of Pradyumna born to Krishna and Rukmini. Usha looks at the portrait and gasps in pleasure as she recognises him instantly.

Chitralekha

Usha

Anirudha

The Ravi Varma Press printed lithographs of three ‘nymphs’ based on original oil paintings created by the master artist. They were of ‘Padmini’ ‘Varini’ and ‘Vasantika’.
In this oleograph, Vasantika, an apsara (a celestial nymph) from Hindu mythology, appears in a playful pose. Adorned in jewelry made of flowers, her divine beauty has been represented by the artist as the ultimate temptress—someone whose charms are impossible to ignore. 
This lithograph of ‘Vasantika’ symbolises spring or the season that heralds blossoms and nature. She is seen loosely draped in a translucent pink saree clutching a bunch of flowers in her hand. The ‘Flame of the Forest’ tree is clearly visible behind the nymph. In some of the mythological texts, she is described as having similar qualities as that of the forest goddess Arnayani, also visible in this oleograph where the nymph can be seen standing amidst a dense grove.

RRVHF

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