Cyrus Poonawalla takes home Raja Ravi Varma’s Yashoda and Krishna for a whopping INR 167 crore

The Indian art market has witnessed a historic change in the past week with Raja Ravi Varma’s renowned oil painting, Yashoda and Krishna, creating a new benchmark in the sale price of a piece of modern Indian art. The piece was sold for a staggering ₹167.2 crore, or approximately $18 million, in a frenzied seven-minute bidding process in Saffronart’s Spring Live Auction in Mumbai. This sale has broken the previous record by a considerable margin.

A masterpiece reclaimed: Raja Ravi Varma’s Yashoda and Krishna shatters records

The piece has been purchased by industrialist Cyrus S Poonawalla, the founder of the Serum Institute of India. The sale price was more than twice the initial lower estimate price of ₹80 crore, reflecting the high demand for such pieces of national historical value. Cyrus has described the purchase as a “privilege and responsibility” and has already promised to allow the public to view the piece on a regular basis.

The painting, which was created in the 1890s, shows a scene from the Shrimad Bhagavatam where Yashoda milks a cow while Krishna, as an infant, stretches out for the milk. Ravi Varma was renowned for his skill in combining traditional Indian mythological themes with European techniques like Chiaroscuro. This work is considered one of the artist’s masterpieces in terms of technique, where the artist has managed to transform a simple scene into something sacred.

Industry experts have compared the work of art to the Mona Lisa of Indian Art. Saffronart Co-Founder Minal Vazirani stated that this is a defining moment, which goes to show the emotional value of Indian heritage. This is because the previous highest bid was recorded by M F Husain’s Untitled (Gram Yatra), which was sold for ₹118 crore last year to collector Kiran Nadar. This latest sale, however, puts Ravi Varma in a class of his own, thereby cementing the position of Indian art as a powerful financial force on the world stage. Minal stated, “This is about the growing confidence of collectors in the depth and scholarship of the Indian art market.”

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