Portrait of a Lady by Raja Ravi Varma - Late 19th Century

‘The Portrait of a Lady’ not only impresses with the way the artist portrays the silken drapery, the flashing jewellery of a lady from an affluent family, her creamy complexion, but he also captures the strong matriarch in her.

Hamsa and Damayanti, Oleograph on Paper by Raja Ravi Varma - Early 20th Century

This oleograph print produced in the Ravi Varma Press shows King Nara's wife Damayanti and Hamsa, the bird of love, from the great Indian epic "Mahabarata," based on Varma's oil painting.

Woman Holding a Fruit by Raja Ravi Varma - Late 19th Century

 Medium: Oil on Canvas

Vrishavahana Shiva with Parvati, Pahari School - Circa 1820-1840

The forms of Shiva riding his mount Nandi, his bull, or leaning on it or just in a posture suggestive of leaning on it when it is actually absent, with or without Parvati, are known as Vrishvahana Shiva. In the painting, Lord Shiva is riding his mount and Parvati is seated behind him, and the enthused Nandi is galloping like a horse. The artist has delightfully dramatised his canvas. Shiva's robust figure clad in traditional saffron antariya, an unstitched textile worn around lower half of the body, has been contrasted with a doll-like tiny Parvati attired like a coy purda-ridden Indian housewife, not like Shiva's consort, the model of timeless love and its perpetual manifestation in her being. Ordinarily, a stream of water gushing from his hair symbolises the presence of the river Ganga. But, instead of that, the artist has painted a female face, obviously the humanised form of Ganga, locked within the knots of Shiva's hair and the stream of water gushing from its mouth. Similarly have been dramatised Nandi's gesture, modeling and adornment of its horns and curvature of its tail, both making full circles.

The Buddha and the Devas - Nagarjunakonda, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh - 3rd Century AD

Portion of a stone Ayaka slab from Stupa-3
Photographed in 1959

Buddha and Nanda’s Visit to Heaven - Nagarjunakonda, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh - 3rd Century AD

Krishna Stealing Butter - India, 6th Century AD

Relief Sandstone Panel showing the Saptamatrika (Mother Goddesses) with One Male God - 10th Century AD

Probably from a lintel above a temple door. The seven Mother Goddesses ('saptamatrikas') are accompanied by one male figure (far left of panel). Cāmuṇḍā (far right) is shown with a snake head and Varahi is recognisable by the boars head. Made of sandstone.

Schist Figure of a Matrika (mother goddess) with a Child - 7th Century AD