Raja Ravi Varma will always have a very important place in Indian art as the artist who immortalized the image of the gods and goddesses of Hindu mythology. So many of the depictions of our present day gods and goddesses in image form can be considered as the descendants of what Ravi Varma drew. Be that the image of Saraswati:

Or that of Goddess Laxmi:

But another aspect of the artist that I find very interesting and also less examined is his depiction of different female forms, especially the ones other than the pious goddess as well as nymphs of our mythologies. It is quite obvious that his main focus usually was on mythological women, even if they were nymphs. But the artist’s depiction of regular women is also a very important part of his work, which I shall seek to understand by virtue of this blog post. But before we do that, I think that it is very important that we first understand what constitutes the basic ground for Ravi Varma’s paintings.

ACADEMIC ART OF THE COLONIAL INDIA

A loose research about the artist on the internet will tell you that most of his paintings were a part of the art movement named Academic Art. In short it was a movement that focused on philosophies of Idealism and the allegorical representation of elements of nature as well as mythological figures. It was an art movement based in Europe mostly and hence, due to the British raj in India, it had it’s influence on Ravi Varma. It is even claimed that he learned oil painting under a Dutch portraitist Theodor Jenson. Even if this claim is not true ( for I could not find a citation), he was most certainly patronized by not only the Maharaja of Travancore, but also by a British administrator Edgar Thurston. His journeys to Europe and cities like Vienna and Chicago undoubtedly had a role in influencing this style. A notable comparison can be the usually rubenesque figures of the female body and the innocent expressions. Also, the importance Varma gives to mythology and fables is another feature of the Neoclassical element of his works. It can be contemplated that his artworks’ popularity in Europe and among the Europeans in India was based on the understanding of the west about the Hindu culture. Previous depictions of Hindu goddesses were rarely so detailed and were also usually limited to the cultural understanding of a limited group, say a tribe or community. At the same time, his depiction of goddesses soon enough found a pan-Indian understanding of our mythologies as these images also went on and became the foundation of how gods are shown in film and television. A criticism can be leveled against Ravi Varma for superimposing Hindu lore over European techniques, which makes the renditions seem rather unoriginal to some, especially seen in contrast to the works of artists like Abanindranath Tagore and Nandlal Bose.

Bharat Mata by Abanindranath Tagore

source: Bharat Mata

Saraswati by Nand Lal Bose

source: Saraswati

While the European nature of Ravi Varma’s subjects in his paintings cannot be denied, seeing the degree of acceptance the style found in later years, especially in the post-independent India is something that cannot be ignored. In giving our deities a less Folk-tale effect and in making them more universal in their emotions and appeals, Ravi Varma somewhat united the country when it came to how we imagine the heroes and heroines of our mythology.

But let me clarify that like the use of English language, Ravi Varma’s pan-Indian depictions of Hinduism is a topic of much deliberation and discussion.

THE CLASSIC INDIAN WOMAN

Now that we have covered the basic rules that govern the artworks, we can move to the aspect of Ravi Varma that makes him so popular and still relevant. It would be safe to assume that his religious or pious works were usually the ones that were commissioned by the princely houses of India as the artist was usually less interested in the portraiture of the Indian female form and more in the capturing of the Indian female form in picturesque, dramatized scenes of famous mythologies and folklore. This is not to say that he never depicted common women as portraits, but his best truly comes out in him capturing the female subjects while in motion, giving the viewer a fantasy of how the woman was actually behaving in front of the artist that this instantaneous pose came to be. The first thing that comes to my mind is actually not a scene depiction but a portrait itself:

The tilt of her head and her pose instills a sense of dynamism in this portrait. It would have been a rather static portrait like Johannes Vermeer‘s The Girl with a Pearl Earring, but her left hand holding the drape of her saree that is falling off her delicate shoulders give it a sense of movement and playfulness. Couple that with her expressions and her long, wavy black hair, you have a beautiful woman tempting and teasing you with her playful innocence with the self-aware seductiveness of an apsara.

This is just what we call the exhibit-A of how your average Indian woman is portrayed in his paintings. The Maharashtrian Lady and The Milkmaid are two examples of similar poses but completely different attitudes reflected by the postures of both women.

The Milkmaid

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The Maharashtrian Lady

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The use of body language and expressions is noteworthy in differentiating the women in both paintings. On top of that, the comparatively dull color palette of The Milkmaid and the bright colors adorned by the Marathi lady function to deepen the contrast.

Ravi Varma would have been your average 19th century artist had he limited himself to the above mentioned depiction of Indian women outside of myths and fables. But he was more than that. He wanted to put us in close proximity of a beautiful woman, as if we are there with her as her best friend, talking to her while she is getting ready and seeing her getting lost in a train of thoughts. Something like this probably:

In Contemplation

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This single painting according to me gives a certain range to the common female subjects of Varma across his paintings. Also, apart from being an absolutely beautiful painting, it captures the woman in a moment, humanizing her in the process; something that very few artists were doing at the time.

Therefore, the above discussed four paintings present us with a considerable range of the depiction of an average Indian woman, be it playful seduction, pride, submissiveness or just being lost in one’s thoughts.

THE MASTERPIECE

Now that I have discussed my initial thoughts about the artist and his works, I would finally like to briefly talk about my favorite among his 48 known paintings.

Shakuntala looking back to glimpse Dushyanta

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This is not the only time Varma immortalizes Shakuntala in his paintings, but this is definitely the most striking of his (or anyone else’s) depiction of Shakuntala. For once, the scene itself is the part of the love story between her and king Dushyant, giving the painting a small story to tell of it’s own. But the one thing that truly makes the Shakuntala of this painting exceptionally unique is the Tribhanga pose exhibited by her.

Purists might not call it the exact Tribhanga pose often displayed by Odissi dancers, for the pose is not symmetrical. But the basic feature of the three bends of the neck, waist and knees that gives the pose it’s name is performed by our main subject. The pose is considered as one of the most graceful and sensuous ones; and it wouldn’t be wrong to say the same for Shakuntala here too.

Apart from the pose and the story behind the painting, the mild explosion of colors works perfectly in sync with the romanticism of the scene. The use of yellows and red along with the orange of Sahkuntala’s saree bring about the feel of spring , a season usually associated with new beginnings and romantic courtships. The theme of the painting is therefore realized to it’s full extent.

CONCLUSION

Raja Ravi Varma’s works were an important step in the evolution of Indian art and propelling them to not only Indian but international attention as well. By putting the Hindu myths and fables in the forms of easy to understand yet judiciously dramatized scenes, he gave us a basic framework of understanding our Puraanas and scriptures.

Along with that, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that he laid a foundation for the image of an Indian woman even while placing some of them as celestial nymphs and goddesses. We might sense a European feel to the woman holding a fruit and looking towards us, but her hand on her saree drape and the sauciness of her eyes tells us that she is someone who is completely aware of how she looks in her silks and jewelry with her black hair probably going down her waist.

It is therefore, in other words, the aesthetic documentation of the Indian female form in a variety of different ways.