Discover Raja Ravi Varma’s mythological paintings and the stories behind them: how he chose models, where his artworks are displayed, how they’re valued, his themes and color strategies, and in-depth narratives of his most celebrated canvases, from Damayanti and the Swan to Shakuntala and Lakshmi.
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Raja Ravi Varma, Public domain,
via Wikimedia Commons
Introduction: When Myth Met Modern India
Raja Ravi Varma stands at the luminous crossroads of Indian art history. Born into an aristocratic milieu in Kerala in 1848, he embraced European academic realism and fused it with the epics, legends, and devotional imagination of the subcontinent.
The result was a modern visual language for ancient stories — images that leapt from palaces and salons into homes and marketplaces, re-defining what “Indian art” could look like in the public imagination.
His genius wasn’t only technical; it was strategic. He trained his eye on the stories India already loved — episodes from the Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Puranic lore — then rendered them with oil-painting finesse, depth, and dramatic chiaroscuro. He conjured tangible gods and heroines who felt like real people with real bodies under real light. Later, through the chromolithograph press he established, those icons traveled everywhere, turning a national visual vocabulary into everyday culture.
This essay explores the emotional engineering behind Ravi Varma’s mythological paintings: how he sourced models, where his originals live today, how the market values them, the themes that recur, the palette choices that made them unforgettable, and close readings of more than seven iconic canvases.
Where His Paintings Are Displayed Today
Original Ravi Varma paintings are treasured in major public collections and in historic palaces across India. Important holdings exist in Kerala, including a dedicated gallery with celebrated canvases and early chromolithographs; significant works are also held in royal collections in western India, in museums in southern and northern metropolises, and in private collections within India and abroad. 
Raja Ravi Varma Paintings in Baroda, Sairandhri
Raja Ravi Varma, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The painting titled Sairandhri, which was warrior Arjun's name when he was hiding in exile, is depicted in a private collection at Baroda, India.
Because many paintings were royal commissions, several remain associated with palace museums or trusts. Beyond originals, his printed oleographs appear in archival collections, where they’re studied as milestones in mass visual culture.
Themes: Myth, Morality, and the Humanized Divine
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Humanizing the DivineRavi Varma presents gods and epic heroes as touchable and intimate. His Lakshmi has warm skin and a palpable weight to the sari; Saraswati’s instrument is rendered with craftsperson’s care. The sublime arrives through human presence rather than abstraction.
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Heroines at the CenterMythic women are protagonists: Damayanti, Shakuntala, Draupadi, Sita, Subhadra. Their intelligence, tenderness, and agency are spotlighted — a decisive shift in picturing Indian womanhood for a mass audience.
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Dramatic Pause, Not Just ClimaxHe favored the narrative “beat” before or after a turning point — the hush after a vow, the moment of recognition, the private interval of longing — letting viewers complete the story in their minds.
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Weave of Region and EpicCostumes, ornaments, and interiors draw on regional material culture. The epics feel geographically variegated, not placeless.
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Bhakti for a New AgeThe devotional impulse runs through his mythic pictures, but in a newly modern register: clear faces, legible spaces, and a pictorial realism that invites “seeing” as a form of worship.
The Ravi Varma Palette: Color as Character
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Skin Tones and LightHe learned European modeling of flesh — warm undertones and cool reflected lights — to give gods and mortals sculptural volume. The divine looks radiant, but not fluorescent; light seems to emanate from within the figure and from a consistent external source.
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Cloth and OrnamentSaris and shawls glow: vermilion borders, saffron silk, indigo shadows, leaf-green highlights. Gold is never a flat yellow — it’s burnished with ochres and amber glints to suggest weight and craftsmanship.
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Background AtmosphereSoft earth hues, tender dawn pinks, and forest greens support the figure without stealing focus. In battles and crises, the atmosphere darkens; in blessings and weddings, the air warms toward honeyed light.
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Symbolic AccentsLotus pinks for Lakshmi’s compassion, ivory whites for Saraswati’s purity, Krishna’s peacock blues and emeralds for playful divinity — each palette decision doubles as meaning.
Seven Essential Paintings: Stories, Staging, and Seeing
Raja Ravi Varma (1848–1906) is often remembered as the painter who gave Indian mythology a face. Through his brush, timeless Sanskrit epics and Puranic tales became visual realities for ordinary people. His genius was not only in his naturalistic technique, modeled partly on European academic realism, but also in his choice of models, his command of color, and his sense of drama. To understand how his art continues to live in memory, one can examine several of his most celebrated works.
These paintings combine myth, human feeling, and visual grace, narrating not only gods and kings but also ordinary women, families, and musicians. Below are ten works — with special attention to mythological themes — expanded in detail to show how Ravi Varma’s art redefined Indian painting.
1) Damayanti and the Swan
The story comes from the Mahabharata. Princess Damayanti learns of King Nala through a swan who speaks to her, and she falls in love even before seeing him. It is a tale of longing, of love born from words rather than sight.
Hamsa Damayanti
Raja Ravi Varma, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Staging & models: Ravi Varma’s rendering captures the act of listening. Damayanti leans toward the swan, her head inclined, lips slightly parted in rapt attention. This is not the stiffness of a courtly portrait but the intimacy of a private moment.
Scholars believe he used aristocratic sitters for posture and facial elegance, but adapted gestures from actresses and family members to capture a natural grace.
Color & light: The colors speak of romance — rose-gold tones of skin, the sari’s reds and creams, and the tender landscape in earthy greens. A soft light pools on Damayanti’s cheek, turning the moment into a halo of intimacy.
Why it endures: It distills unseen love into a single gesture. Damayanti’s trust in a message carried by a bird feels timeless. The painting shows how Ravi Varma could transform a myth into an emotional reality — a hallmark of his genius.
2) Shakuntala (Shakuntala Looking Back to Glimpse Dushyanta)
The story is equally beloved. Shakuntala, living in the hermitage, falls for King Dushyanta. In Ravi Varma’s most famous image, she pretends to pluck a thorn while stealing a glance at her lover.
Shakuntala looking back to glimpse Dushyanta
Raja Ravi Varma, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Staging & models: Shakuntala’s twist of the body is both elegant and plausible, catching a moment of coyness.
Her friends around her smile knowingly, adding to the drama. Ravi Varma likely blended live poses from models with the theatricality of actors he studied.
Color & light: The forest backdrop is painted in glowing olives and greens, while Shakuntala’s sari drifts in sandalwood and cream tones. The light grazes her jewelry and face, anchoring her in natural space.
Why it endures: This painting is like a cinematic still — a frozen moment of longing and play. It embodies the human side of epic romance and anticipates visual storytelling in India.
3) Lakshmi
The goddess Lakshmi, born from the ocean of milk, embodies wealth, prosperity, and well-being.
Staging & models: Ravi Varma presents her as a frontal, commanding figure standing on a lotus, flanked by elephants in some versions. Her pose is symmetrical and sovereign, based on anatomical realism yet radiating divinity.
Color & light: Lotus pinks, radiant gold, and deep reds dominate. The sari is lush, the ornaments dazzling, yet the serenity of her face softens the grandeur. Backgrounds of teal or twilight blue set her glow in contrast.
Why it endures: For millions of Indians, this became the definitive image of Lakshmi. Reproduced widely in prints, it was devotional yet accessible, transforming domestic shrines across the subcontinent.
Goddess Saraswathi
Raja Ravi Varma, Public domain,
via Wikimedia Commons
4) Saraswati
Raja Ravi Varma, Public domain,
via Wikimedia Commons
The goddess of knowledge, Saraswati, is another enduring icon Ravi Varma painted.
Staging & models: She sits with the veena in her hands, posture accurate to how a musician might hold it. A palm-leaf manuscript rests beside her. The white sari with a golden border grounds her as both divine and scholarly.
Color & light: Creams and whites dominate, accented by the warm tones of the veena.
Pale skies or gentle riverbank backgrounds suggest purity and clarity.
Why it endures: Ravi Varma gave India an image of Saraswati that was approachable, elegant, and believable.
It remains one of the most replicated goddess images, revered by students and artists alike.
5) There Comes Papa
Not a myth but a domestic scene, There Comes Papa shows a woman with a child at the doorway, turning toward the arrival of the father.There Comes Papa
Raja Ravi Varma, Public domain,
via Wikimedia Commons
Staging & models: This painting is rooted in Ravi Varma’s family circle, capturing genuine maternal anticipation. The tilt of the woman’s head and the child’s eager posture lend the scene authenticity.
Color & light: Soft interior shadows meet the bright doorway. Creams, muted reds, and browns form the palette, while jewelry glints modestly.
Why it endures: This painting shows Ravi Varma’s range — from epic gods to intimate everyday life. It gave Indian art an unprecedented blend of realism and tenderness.
6) Galaxy of Musicians
This work celebrates India’s musical traditions. Women from different regions appear with instruments, forming a grand cultural procession.
Staging & models: Ravi Varma arranged his sitters in a frieze-like composition. Each musician represents a distinct regional identity, observed through costume, ornament, and instrument.
Color & light: A harmony of saris — indigo, saffron, crimson, green — under a unifying warm light. Instruments gleam with fine detail.
Why it endures: It is a visual anthem of cultural unity, showing India’s diversity through art and music. It also reflects Ravi Varma’s ability to turn portraiture into national allegory.
7) Arjuna and Subhadra
This painting brings intimacy to a legendary union from the Mahabharata.
Staging & models: Instead of focusing on spectacle, Ravi Varma highlights private emotion. Arjuna’s protective gesture and Subhadra’s shy composure carry epic weight with human tenderness.
Color & light: Jewel-toned fabrics, controlled highlights on ornaments, and a balanced architectural setting anchor the scene.
Why it endures: It demonstrates Ravi Varma’s gift for turning dynastic destiny into a story of love, showing myth as deeply human.
8) Harishchandra and Taramati
The story of Harishchandra’s trials at the cremation ground is one of truth and sacrifice.
Staging & models: Ravi Varma painted gaunt but dignified figures, focusing on resolute expressions rather than theatrical drama.
Color & light: Ashen greys and earth ochres dominate, while small glows of fire provide contrast.
Why it endures: It visualizes dharma not as abstraction but as human suffering and integrity, making ethics emotionally powerful.
9) Sita in Captivity
Sita’s captivity in Ashoka Vatika becomes a scene of quiet strength.
Staging & models: The model’s downcast eyes and upright posture embody endurance. The grove is painted with careful foliage and filtered light.
Color & light: Gentle greens, tempered gold, and the white of flowers make the palette meditative.
Why it endures: It presents Sita not only as a victim but as a figure of faith and resilience, giving her depth and dignity.
10) Krishna as the Butter Thief
A lighter myth shows child Krishna stealing butter.
Staging & models: The chubby figure, lively eyes, and household setting make the divine child familiar.
Color & light: Peacock blues and leaf greens enrich the creamy whites of butter, creating a joyous palette.
Why it endures: It humanizes the divine, letting devotion mingle with affection. Millions have cherished this playful Krishna as part of home and heart.
How He Found His Models: From Family to Court and Stage
Ravi Varma’s figures feel alive because he painted from life. He drew on several circles for models:
- Family and Inner CircleRelatives, especially women in his extended household, posed for studies that would later become heroines from epic literature. A famous example is the strong, poised Nair woman — often linked to his daughter — who informed the natural grace of works like There Comes Papa and quietly shaped the look of several mythic characters.
- Courtly Patrons and Aristocratic SittersCommissions from princely states connected him with royal households. Court ladies and nobility offered profiles of dignity, jewelry, textiles, and posture that he refined into archetypes for goddesses and queens — Lakshmi, Saraswati, Subhadra, Sita.
- Professional Models and Theatre ActressesAs his practice expanded, Ravi Varma collaborated with stage performers and professional models, whose expressive training and comfort with dramatic gesture made them perfect for the heightened emotions of epic scenes — grief, wonder, devotion, heroism.
- Travel Sketches and Cultural ObservationHe traveled widely, sketching faces, costumes, and landscapes. Those notes nourished his myth paintings with concrete details — a sari border from the west coast, a jewel setting seen in a northern court, a forest light remembered from the Deccan — giving each composition a persuasive sense of place.
This network of sources wasn’t merely pragmatic. It was the keystone of his realism: believable bodies, local fabrics, tangible jewelry, and a poise inherited from real lives — all transfigured into myth.
Craft and Process: The Studio Behind the Splendor
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Drawings and Oil StudiesWorks often began as graphite studies, sometimes lightly color-washed, to solve pose and drapery. He focused on hands — the expressive hinges of feeling — and the fall of cloth across the torso.
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Textile and Jewelry ResearchFrom Kasavu borders to Kanchi silks, from pearl strings to armlets, he recorded surfaces with near-documentary care. This craftsmanship grounded the myth.
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Light DisciplineA single coherent light-source gives actors weight and makes the tableau believable. Faces catch the brightest arc; secondary elements recede into halftone.
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Print Culture and ReachBy supervising chromolithographs of his paintings, he seeded a visual revolution: households could own icons in color. Popular prints shaped how generations came to “see” gods — a legacy beyond any single canvas.
How His Paintings Are Valued
Ravi Varma’s reputation has only grown. In the modern art market, authenticated paintings — especially mythological subjects with clear provenance — command high prices. Works that directly informed popular oleographs or that feature beloved narrative moments (for instance, Damayanti, Shakuntala, Lakshmi, Saraswati, scenes from Harishchandra’s story, or climactic episodes from the Mahabharata) are especially sought after. Condition, rarity, and documented exhibition history further elevate value. Even studies and atelier works hold strong collector interest because of their role in the birth of modern Indian visual culture.
Why Audiences Still Respond
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Clarity of EmotionViewers immediately understand the feeling on each face, the drama in each gesture.
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Aesthetic FamiliarityFabrics, jewelry, architectural interiors — all look “like ours,” pulling the divine into daily life.
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Narrative TimingHe captures the breath before action — the moment that makes you lean in closer.
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A Democratic IconographyPrints ensured that palace art didn’t remain a palace privilege. Devotion became reproducible, and beauty became portable.
Collecting and Scholarship: Value Beyond the Hammer Price
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Provenance MattersWorks tied to princely commissions, well-documented family pieces, and paintings that served as masters for iconic prints command particular respect.
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Condition and ConservationClean surfaces, stable varnish, and minimal overpainting safeguard both aesthetic and financial value.
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The Studio QuestionBecause demand was high, assistants sometimes collaborated under Ravi Varma’s direction. Expert attributions distinguish master’s hand, studio participation, and later copies — all of which affects value.
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Cultural CapitalBeyond money, owning or exhibiting a Ravi Varma means carrying part of modern India’s visual DNA — a prestige that museums, palaces, and collectors understand deeply.
Visiting the Originals: What to Look For
When you encounter a Ravi Varma in person — whether in Kerala, western palace museums, major metropolitan galleries, or curated private shows — try this slow-looking checklist:
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Edge of the Sari: Observe how the painted thread catches light at the border.
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Hands and Wrists: The anatomy will tell you if a pose is believable — and it almost always is.
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Jewelry Highlights: Look for multiple tiny glints, not a single flat yellow; that’s how he makes gold feel heavy.
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Background Logic: Light direction, horizon, and foliage are all designed to keep your attention on the face.
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Emotional Center: Ask, “What is the feeling at the heart of this scene?” — and watch the painting answer.
Conclusion: The Painter Who Taught a Nation to See
Raja Ravi Varma’s mythological paintings remain unmatched for their ability to fuse realism with divinity. His careful choice of models brought anatomy and gesture to life, while his command of color gave grandeur and intimacy equal weight. These ten works — from Damayanti’s tender listening to Krishna’s playful butter theft — illustrate the breadth of his vision. Whether portraying gods, heroines, or families, he made myth palpable. Today, his works are treasured in museums, royal collections, and private homes, but more importantly, they live in the collective imagination of India. Through them, Ravi Varma continues to narrate the myths of the past with the emotional truth of the present.
His mythological paintings continue to define how stories are visualized in calendars, posters, films, and television. His models — family, aristocrats, skilled performers — stand behind the gods we know. His color sense teaches constancy and warmth; his staging teaches patience and wonder. In museums and palaces, in living rooms and puja spaces, his images still do their quiet work: they make devotion visible, beauty legible, and tradition newly alive.
If you look closely at Damayanti and the Swan, Shakuntala, Lakshmi, Saraswati, There Comes Papa, Galaxy of Musicians, Arjuna and Subhadra, Harishchandra and Taramati, Sita in Captivity, and Krishna the Butter Thief, you’ll notice they all share a single conviction: that the divine speaks in human light. That is why they endure — and why Raja Ravi Varma remains the painter of modern India’s imagination.
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