POPULAR IMAGERY
A printing industry entirely devoted to the production of pictures of Gods and Goddesses and mythological characters was established in India in the 19th Century. This played a critical role in the shaping of cultural, social and national identity of India. The deep penetration of these mass-produced pictures made them the defining visual imagery of Indian mythology and epics. These religious pictures went on to become a medium for the advertisement of goods and services and subsequently for political propoganda.

The most important contributor to this style of icongraphy was Raja Ravi Verma - an artist from the princely state of Travancore. His depictions of mythological figures, including those from the epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana, are fascinating interpretations of Indian tradition and European Orientalism.

He printed his paintings as Oleographs (at a lithographic printing press he started in 1894 in Maharasthra) which became very popular and continued to be printed in thousands for many years, even after his death in 1906.