Raja Ravi Varma is a popular name for each one of us, as we are quite familiar with his paintings. You might already appreciate the aesthetics of his artworks, but have you ever considered purchasing prints or perhaps framing them for your most sacred space – the puja room?
If not, it’s time to consider how Indian artists like Raja Ravi Varma can transform and elevate your sacred space into something extraordinary. In this blog, we will walk you through four iconic paintings of Hindu deities that are perfect for your dedicated place of worship. So, let’s get started…
Who is Raja Ravi Varma?
Raja Ravi Varma is known all over the world for the legacy of paintings he left behind as a great painter of mythological stories of Hindu Gods and Goddesses in Indian culture.
A pioneer of “modernism” in India, his artworks reflect both the aesthetics and realism of the art world. Varma, a highly skilled artist, with the details, composition, and interplay of light and shadows, in his artworks, stood ahead of all the painters during his time.
Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings were widely adapted into lithographic prints or oleographs for the first time in the history of Indian art. Whether it was calendar art, cinema posters, book covers, matchboxes, or the soap brand Vinolia, the Indian painting of Raja Ravi Varma, over time, was widely used as prints for celebrity endorsements.
Iconic Raja Ravi Varma Paintings of Hindu Deities Perfect for Your Puja Room
Raja Ravi Varma, one of the Indian artists of the 19th century, steered clear of the traditional art styles and created realistic imageries of Hindu deities as three-dimensional figures.
Way before his Indian painting came into the art scene, the artwork of Hindu deities largely imitated the sculptures of Gods and Goddesses as seen in the ancient temples of India. A pioneer of modernism, his paintings blended Western and Eastern influences, and this is how an Indian artist bridged the two art worlds together.
Goddess Lakshmi – The Hindu Deity of Wealth, Prosperity, and Abundance
Description of the Indian Painting:
Goddess Lakshmi in Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings gracefully stands on a large, blooming lotus flower. Her hands held the stalk of lotus blooms, while others were poised in a gesture of offering.
One can see an elephant and swans flank the graceful deity, draped in a red saree with a golden border. Far away, the distant peaks of a mountain are visible, and the background is a beautiful landscape.
Symbolic Meanings:
Lotus: Beauty, Self-realisation, consciousness
Elephants: Strength, hard work, activity
Water: Prosperity
Goddess Saraswati: The Hindu Deity of Knowledge and Wisdom
Description of the Indian Painting:
One of the most popular and iconic paintings by Raja Ravi Varma, the Saraswati artwork visually represents the Hindu deity of knowledge, i.e., Saraswati. The female deity, as a beautiful young woman in a white saree playing the veena, holding the conch and rosary beads, is the bestower of excellence in arts and music.
Symbolic Meanings:
Veena: Arts and music
White saree: Purity
Peacock: Truth, creativity, beauty
The Family of Lord Shiva
Description of the Indian Painting:
Lord Shiva is sitting on a golden throne with his consort, Goddess Parvati, and Lord Ganesha by his side in his sacred abode – Mount Kailasa. Nandi in the foreground is guarding the deities, and in the distance, one can see the snow-capped peaks of the majestic mountains. While Lord Shiva holds the trishul (trident) in one hand, on the other, he holds the axe.
Symbolic Meanings:
Trishul: The Power of Trinity – Creation, Preservation, Destruction
Dattatreya
Description of the Indian Painting:
A yogi with three heads representing the Holy Trinity, i.e., Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesh, holds a trishul, conch, chakra, drum, lotus, and a kalash (pot) in his six hands. The sage is surrounded by animals like the cow and dogs in a beautiful landscape scenery.
Symbolic Meanings:
Three heads: Three Gunas – Sattva, Rajas, Tamas
Six hands: Six Goals – Yamas, Niyama, Samatva, Dama, Daya, Shanti
Cow: Panchabhutas (The Five Elements)
Four Dogs: Iccha (desire), Vasana (passion), Asha (hope), and Trishna (thirst)
Controversies of the Depiction of Hindu Deities in Raja Ravi Varma Paintings
Dissenting voices are common when there is a deviation from traditions, stereotypes, or pre-established norms, and this same phenomenon applies to the art world as well.
These deviations or the voices that shape them are often embroiled in controversies, and amongst the different Indian artists, Raja Ravi Varma is a name whose novel representations of Hindu deities with popular prints were challenged, and one was even banned from being circulated.
These depictions of Hindu deities with realism were believed to incite violence and provoke people to contemptuous acts.
Bottom Line
Raja Ravi Varma has played a big role in taking Indian painting to new heights of modernism. He went beyond how Hindu deities were traditionally perceived by the Indian masses and gave them a novel representation where realism coincided with the aesthetics in his paintings.
With his popularisation of oleographs, the masses could access prints of Hindu deities that allowed the freedom to worship the divine. Although his art challenged the established norms, he didn’t shy away from creating and disseminating his art and left behind a legacy that continues to be celebrated worldwide even today.