Ravi Varma’s works help in study of Indian jewellery

BENGALURU: At a recent talk and presentation at Gallery G organised by the Bangalore-based Raja Ravi Varma Heritage Foundation for members of Flo, a women’s empowerment group, eminent Indian jewellery historian Usha R Balakrishnan highlighted the value of jewellery and its portrayal in art.
Jewellery and adornment is a ‘way of life’ in India. Jewels adorn, they enhance beauty, they seduce, they deflect evil and attract good; jewels are savings. They convey power and prosperity and they are symbols of kingship and sovereignty.  

Sources for study

Until about the 19th century, sculptures, paintings, references in texts and court chronicles were the only sources for the study of Indian jewellery. With the arrival of oil painting in the 18th Century, and photography in the 19th century, jewellery designs were brought back to life. The most renowned Indian painter was Raja Ravi Varma. Ravi Varma mastered the medium of oil and developed his own unique idiom. Using the technique of impasto, whereby thick layers of pigment was applied on the canvas, he was able to give a sculptural three-dimensional look to jewels.

In a painting titled Sita Bhumipravesh, Ravi Varma infused the dark canvas with sparks of light adorning his figures with jewels that individualise each character in the narrative. While the two sages wear necklaces of rudraksha beads, the young boys Luv and Kush are adorned with a simple gold chain, and earrings that signify their status as brahmacharyas (students). Sita is adorned with earrings, armbands, bangles and rings; her mangalsutra or marriage necklace sits close around her neck, and long rows of pearls hang over her chest. The Mother Goddess and Rama and Lakshmana wear magnificent gem-encrusted kiritams (crowns)—signifying divinity and royalty.

Jewellery, a focal point

Ravi Varma’s commissions took him to different parts of India, and he was able study different regional jewellery styles, designs and crafting techniques and then replicate them in his paintings. He also discovered the wealth, beauty, and variety of Indian textiles. He attired his women in exquisite kanjeevaram, Maheshwari, Chanderi, and Paithani saris, and decorated the velvet jackets of his male subjects with gold zardozi embroidery. Thus, jewels and textiles that were so much a part of Indian dress and culture became the focal point in many of his works.

Importantly, there is no standardisation of jewellery in Ravi Varma’s paintings. If the composition, setting, mood and characters of each painting is individualised, so too are the jewels. They are carefully selected to correspond to the region, caste and class of the sitter.  Thus, an entire catalogue of designs and ornaments, emerge from the paintings of Ravi Varma. They act as valuable visual references to jewellery designs of the period, providing a documentation of styles that have long vanished.