Raja Ravi Varma2 (1848-1906)

1. 2 Raja Ravi Varma

2. Raja RaviVarma (1848 – 1906) “A prince among painters and a painter among princes” Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906) probably the first Indian artist to master perspective and the use of the oil medium; the first to use human models to illustrate Hindu gods and goddesses; the first Indian artist to become famous, before him painters and craftsmen were largely unidentified; and the first to make his work available not just to the rich elite but also to common people by way of his oleographs. Raja Ravi Varma is famous for his paintings based on Indian mythology & epics. He was was born in Kilimanoor Palace in a royal family of those times. His mother was a poet, his father was a Sanskrit scholar and his uncle was an amateur artist, who taught young Ravi his initial art lessons. Varma was the first Indian to use Western techniques of perspective and composition and to adapt them to Indian subjects, styles, and themes. He won the Governor’s Gold Medal in 1873 for the painting Nair Lady Adorning Her Hair. In 1894 he set up a lithographic press in order to mass-produce copies of his paintings as oleographs, enabling ordinary people to afford them. That innovation resulted in the tremendous popularity of his images, which became an integral part of popular Indian culture thereafter.

3. Princess Damayanthi talking with Royal Swan about Nala

4. Princess Damayanti and Sudeshana Nala leaving Princess Damayanti

5. Princess Damayanti and Sudeshana

6. Princess Damayanthi abandoned by Nala, sitting alone in forest Damayanti, a character in Hindu mythology, was the princess of Vidarbha Kingdom, who married king Nala, of Nishadha Kingdom, and their story is told in the Mahabharata

7. Damayanti

8. Bharata Painting of child Bharata in the forest Bharat Milap Bharatha meeting Rama who advice him to rule Ayodhya (Kosala Kingdom) on his behalf

9. Kamsa maya (1890) Kamsa trying to kill the child, shown Maya by Goddess Durga Bhishma abdicating his right to the throne, in order to get the fisher girl married to his father Shantanu

10. Draupadi with her five husbands - the Pandavas The central figure is Yudhishthira; the two on the bottom are Bhima and Arjuna. Nakula and Sahadeva, the twins, are standing. Draupadi and Sudeshna (Mahabharata)

11. Draupathi in the guise of Syrendri taken to forest by Virata's wife Simhika, who plans to kill her Droupathi and Simhika Droupathi taken to forest by Simhika, who plans to kill her

12. Draupadi carrying honey and milk to the court of Keechaka Draupadi, in disguise carrying honey and milk to the court of Keechaka

13. Beautiful apsaras Urvashi, in the court of Indra Draupadi as Sairandhri

14. Keechaka and Sairandhri, 1890 (Draupadi as Sairandhri fends off Kichaka's advances)

15. Draupadi as humiliated in Virata's durbar (Palace) by Kichaka

16. Ganga Shantanu Shantanu stops Ganga from drowning their eighth child, who later was known as Bhishma.

17. Shantanu woos the fisherwoman, Satyavati (from Mahabharata)

18. Raja Ravi Varma was the first and the only person in India to have had a personal, special post office, provided to him in view  of the high volume of fan mails arriving as cartloads

19. Lord Krishna as the envoy of the Pandavas in the Kaurava court Krishna as envoy to the Kaurava court before Kurukshetra war. Satyaki takes out his sword when the Kauravas, raise their sword against Krishna Radha introduced to Krishna

20. Radha and Sakhi

21. Radha and Sakhi (fragment)

22. Radha Waiting for Krishna

23. Radha Madhavam Lord Madhav with his love - Radha

24. Jatayu attempting to save Sita Devi from Ravana Ravana cuts Jatayu's wings

25. Ramapanchayan,Rama and Sita, with Hanuman, and Rama's three brothers Lakshmana, Bharata, and Shatrughna Rama releasing Ahalya from curse

26. Rama portrayed as exile in the forest, accompanied by his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana SriRama conquers Varuna (from Ramayana)

27. Meganathan, after his victory over Indran presenting Sacchi Devi to Ravana

28. Mahabharata Birth of Sakunthala - Vishwamitra rejects the child Sakunthala and Sakhis

29. Sakunthala Sakunthala, the heroine of Kalidasa's Sanskrit drama Sakunthalam. Sakunthala writing letter to Dushyantan after she fall in love with him

30. Sakunthala Pathralekhan Sakunthala writing a love letter to Dushyantan on a lotus leaf with her nail

31. Sakunthala Pathralekhan Sakunthala writing a love letter to Dushyantan on a lotus leaf with her nail

32. Sakunthala Pathralekhan Sakunthala writing a love letter to Dushyantan on a lotus leaf with her nail

33. Menaka and Sakunthala (1891) Apsaras Menaka taking her daughter Sakunthala while she was pregnant and discarded by King Dushyantha

34. Sakunthala 1898 Looks of Love Sakunthala looking back at Dushyanthan acting as injured with a thorn Sakunthala

35. Sakunthala 1898 Looks of Love (detail)

36. Yasodha and Krishna

37. Yasodha and Krishna

38. Yashoda milking cow and little Krishna asking for a glass of milk Child Krishna seated on a tree branch playing his flute

39. Lord Krishna & Balarama freeing Vasudevar & Devaki after killing Kamsan

40. Text and pictures: Internet All  copyrights  belong to their  respective owners Presentation: Sanda Foişoreanu https://www.slideshare.net/michaelasanda https://ma-planete.com/michaelasanda 2014 Sound: Jay Sri Krishna from Namaste,album Magical Healing Mantras