Vishu is celebrated with fervour in Kerala, mainly by residents who hail from the state’s northern region. Vishu is celebrated with Vishu Kani, an early morning darshan for a prosperous year, followed by the bursting of crackers, monitory blessing by the elders, and a grand feast in the afternoon. I remember the Vishu mornings in my childhood when my mother would wake me up before sunrise and lead me to the puja room, covering my eyes. Making me sit in front of Vishu Kani, a paraphernalia of divine abundance of seasonal fruits, vegetables and some glittering coins in a rice bowl, she would remove her hands from my eyes to unveil the whole spectacle decorated with oil lamps, little foggy due to the fragrant fumes from sandal sticks.
As I opened my still sleepy eyes, the benevolent smile of the blue-coloured Krishna revealed itself to me. Then appeared silk saree-clad Satyabhama and Rukmini, flanking him. The big picture of Krishna holding his consorts close to him, riding his majestic vahana, the Garuda, encompassed the whole puja room. Glittering oil lamps soon revealed the other divine figures, intently looking at you from inside their frames. Goddess Lakshmi, draped in a stunning red pattu saree standing on the red lotus accompanied by two white elephants elegantly holding the garlands, assured the devotee of the abundance for the coming year. On the other side was Goddess Sarasvati, clad in a beautiful white saree playing the veena in an idyllic landscape. Those moments were mesmerising and, in retrospect, a nostalgic experience when the gods and goddesses appeared real, almost human and tactile. The images of divine characters remained etched in the memory forever.
The sacred images of India have a long history, they started to manifest around the stupas and were enshrined in temples before the Common Era and the development of their style through the centuries modulated the history of art in India. It is a commonly accepted fact that Indian artists preferred the ideal and stylised images for depiction of the divinities. These images could not communicate to the viewers as they denied naturalism and thus remained alien to the ordinary folk. Moreover, accessibility to these images remained a key factor, whether they are sculpted images or painted murals on the walls of the temple or depictions in miniatures.
Ravi Varma using self-taught European naturalism, visually reinterpreted the Indian mythological characters for his foremost patron, Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III of Baroda.
What Ravi Varma did at that juncture had far-reaching consequences. He broke the language barrier and created images using European naturalism, where mythological characters appeared almost real and “historical”. He created “portraits” of gods and goddesses as if they were sitting or posing for him, like multitudes of maharajas and colonial officers. The paintings were still in the royal collections, away from the common folk. In 1894 Ravi Varma broke open another barrier by establishing Ravi Varma Press. Ten years before that, he was urged by Sir T Madhava Rao, Diwan of Baroda, who wrote to Ravi Varma urging him to reproduce his naturalist interpretations of Indian mythology on a mass scale using western printing technology, adding that “you will thereby not only extend your reputation but will be doing a real service to your country” [as quoted by Kajri Jain]. Through establishing the press and popularising those images, Ravi Varma made an immense contribution to the art and society of India.
The prints were a great success, and people consumed them enthusiastically and with respect. Raja Raja Varma, brother and collaborator of Raja Ravi Varma, noted in his diary that he was delighted to see the prints sold at Vishakhapatnam. The divine figures were getting etched in people’s minds, and the gods became part of the family collection of images, even in ordinary folks’ houses. The new celebrity status of these images soon got the attention of the mass media and marketing. Images from Raja Ravi Varma press and his followers were reproduced as calendars, on advertisements for hair oils, soaps and even matchbox covers. People bought these products not for quality but to get the images home.
The popularity of these images is so high one wonders how people would have visualised the images of gods and goddesses before Ravi Varma. The nostalgic celestial spectacle of Vishu Kani, as I recognise now as an art historian, was indeed a mini-retrospective exhibition of the oleograph prints of Raja Ravi Varma, curated by mothers, bringing home the gods, initiated by Raja Ravi Varma.
The 175th birth anniversary of Raja Ravi Varma, the man who brought gods home, falls on April 29.
Dr Jayaram Poduval
Department of Art History & Aesthetics, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda
(jpoduval@gmail.com)