Did Raja Ravi Varma paint the Yashoda and Krishna image first? The ₹167-crore puzzle

Explore the intriguing authorship and origins of Raja Ravi Varma's Yashoda and Krishna painting amid a ₹167-crore debate.

When I curated Bhakti: The Art of Krishna at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in 2024, one of the most quietly compelling works on view was Raja Ravi Varma’s Yashoda and Krishna. For many in Mumbai, it was the first time encountering the painting in person. Today, as the work emerges from a private collection and enters the auction circuit, it carries with it not just aesthetic value, but historical and financial weight.

And yet, what interests me most about this painting is not its price, nor even its authorship — but a question that remains unresolved.

Art history is rarely complete. It is constructed through objects, documents, and institutional consensus, but also through gaps — moments where the narrative does not fully close. Yashoda and Krishna is one such moment.

By no means am I attempting to question whether this painting is a Ravi Varma or not. It is now accepted as one — and in the world of art, acceptance often becomes its own form of truth. But history has shown us that acceptance and certainty are not always the same. The case of Salvator Mundi, sold as a Leonardo da Vinci and later subjected to intense scholarly doubt, reminds us that belief, market validation, and authorship do not always align neatly.

The question here is not whether this is a Ravi Varma. The question is: where does this image come from?

My own uncertainty began not with the painting, but with stained glass.