Raja Ravi Varma (Malayalam: [ɾaːdʒaː ɾɐʋi ʋɐrm(ː)ɐ]) (29 April 1848 – 2 October 1906[3][4]) was an Indian painter and artist.

Furthermore, his religious depictions of Hindu deities and works from Indian epic poetry and Puranas have received profound acclaim.

Raja Ravi Varma was closely related to the royal family of Travancore of present-day Kerala state in India.

His mother Uma Ambabayi Thampuratty belonged to the baronial family which ruled the Kilimanoor feudal estate within the kingdom of Travancore.

The younger son, Rama Varma (born 1879), inherited his father's artistic talent and studied at the JJ School of Arts, Mumbai.

Bhageerthi's two elder sisters, who had been adopted in order to carry forward the lineage, had failed to produce the desired heirs.

[citation needed] Two of Varma's granddaughters were marked by destiny to receive this honour, the main reason being that they were the nearest matrilineal (cognatic) kin to the incumbent Rani of Attingal.

It was the Junior Rani, Sethu Parvathi Bayi, who gave birth to the much-awaited heir in 1912, exactly a day after her sixteenth birthday.

[citation needed] In this way, the entire present (existing) royal family of Travancore is descended from Raja Ravi Varma.

[citation needed] Around Ravi Varma's 57th birthday he announced his decision to accept Sanyasa, and retire from all worldly life when he turned 60.

[citation needed] Varma was patronised by Ayilyam Thirunal, the next Maharaja of Travancore and began formal training thereafter.

Varma's paintings were also sent to the World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893 and he was awarded three gold medals.

Ravi Varma is particularly noted for his paintings depicting episodes from the story of Dushyanta and Shakuntala, and Nala and Damayanti, from the Mahabharata.

[11] Apparently on the advice of the then Dewan (Prime Minister) of Travancore, T. Madhava Rao, Ravi Varma started a lithographic printing press in Ghatkopar, Mumbai in 1894 and later shifted it to Malavli near Lonavala, Maharashtra in 1899.

The oleographs produced by the press were mostly of Hindu gods and goddesses in scenes adapted mainly from the Mahabharata, the Ramayana and the Puranas.

[12] In 1904, Viceroy Lord Curzon, on behalf of the British King Emperor, bestowed upon Varma the Kaisar-i-Hind Gold Medal.

Naive and ambitious at the same time, he opens up the debate for his later compatriots in the specific matter of defining individual genius through professional acumen, of testing modes of cultural adaptation with idiosyncratic effect, of attempting pictorial narration with its historic scope.

[17][18] Despite his controversial legacy, Ravi Varma continues to be an important figure for modern and contemporary Indian artists.

Sasikumar made Raja Ravi Varma, an Indian documentary television film on the artist in 1997.

[27] The 2014 Indian Hindi-language film, Rang Rasiya (English title: Colours of Passion) explores Varma's inspiration behind his paintings with Randeep Hooda in the role of the painter.