Shanmukha Subramania Swami by Ravi Varma Press Print (18×24)

Fine Art Reproduction Print (Museum-Grade Archival Print)

Artist / Date Raja Ravi Varma Press | circa 1900-1915 | Oleograph on Paper | Karla-Lonavala, Maharashtra | Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection

Key Features

This magnificently composed and iconographically complete work presents Sri Shanmukha Subramania Swami - the six-faced Kartikeya with his two consorts Devasena and Mahavalli - one of the most visually spectacular and devotionally complete oleographs from the Ravi Varma Press, registered as No. 151 and distributed through C. Cunniah & Co. of Madras, placing it firmly within the South Indian devotional market for which it was most particularly beloved. The composition depicts Shanmukha - Subrahmanya in his most complete iconographic form - standing on his peacock vahana against a breathtaking aureole of fully spread peacock tail feathers, his six faces radiating simultaneously in all directions, his two wives flanking him with the devoted, natural ease of goddesses who share their husband's sovereignty without competing for it.

The composition's most immediate and most visually overwhelming quality is the peacock - its fully spread tail filling the entire background of the composition with hundreds of iridescent eye-feathers rendered in the rich blues, greens, and golds of the Ravi Varma Press's most chromatic palette. This peacock tail-aureole serves the same function as the divine halo in Western sacred art - but with the specific, peacock-particular quality of an ornament that is simultaneously the most beautiful natural display in the animal kingdom and the symbol of the divine warrior's unconditional sovereignty over the serpent of ego and ignorance on which the peacock stands. Devasena - from the North Indian tradition - and Mahavalli - from the South Indian tradition - together flanking Shanmukha declare his universality across the geographic and cultural breadth of the entire Indian sacred tradition, his two wives the living symbols of his complete embrace of both the northern and southern streams of Hindu devotion.

Shanmukha's six faces - turned simultaneously in multiple directions - represent the six directions of space and the complete, omnidirectional awareness of the divine warrior consciousness that perceives and protects from every direction simultaneously.

Museum-Grade Poster Details

• Size: 18 × 24 inches
• Paper: 350 GSM archival matte paper
• Print Quality: High-resolution reproduction preserving the iridescent peacock tail detail, the rich red and gold of the consorts' garments, the six-faced deity's crown and jewelry specificity, and the full chromatic splendor of the original oleograph
• Finish: Non-glare museum matte finish
• Ideal For: Kartikeya and Murugan devotees, Tamil Nadu and South Indian tradition practitioners, collectors of Ravi Varma Press oleographs, home altar and puja spaces, and anyone drawn to the most visually spectacular of all the Ravi Varma Press's deity compositions

Why You'll Love It

Visually spectacular and iconographically complete - the Ravi Varma Press Shanmukha Subramania is the most chromatic and most compositionally magnificent of all the deity oleographs in the series, the image whose peacock tail aureole and six-faced divine figure make it the most immediately arresting sacred print in the entire Ravi Varma canon.

Order Now

Bring home Shanmukha Subramania Swami - the Ravi Varma Press's circa 1900-1915 masterwork of Kartikeya with his two consorts, available as an 18 × 24 inch museum-grade archival print, with framed and unframed options, exclusively at The Soma Store.