The other day Charubala Annuncio of Outlook asked me a very interesting question, on whether art collectors in the West thought Raja Ravi Varma symbolized Indian art.
There is no doubt that Ravi Varma is a great Indian artist (his critics be damned). As Bappa wrote to me in a letter, "..his depiction of the beauty of the Indian woman is unequalled in Indian art."
However, IMHO the world of Indian art is far more bigger, deeper, and complex than one person or one school of art can symbolize. I told the journalist that Art of Ajanta, Arts of Belur, and the Arts of Sanchi were much more symbols of Indian art in the eyes of a foreigner.
But in the eyes of an Indian, Raja Ravi Varma is perhaps one artist who single-handedly stands for Indian art. After all, he is the one who showed us what Goddess Lakshmi and Saraswati actually look like. 
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Notice multiple time periods, art-forms,
multiple religions, and schools
