Legendary artist Raja Ravi Varma’s ‘Yashoda and Krishna’ has set a new record for Indian art, selling for a staggering ₹167.2 crore at Saffronart’s Spring Auction in Mumbai on Friday. The sale surpasses MF Husain’s Untitled (Gram Yatra), which fetched ₹118 crore at a Christie's auction in March last year, making it the most expensive Indian artwork ever sold at auction.
The painting has been bought by vaccine tycoon Cyrus Poonawalla, founder of the Serum Institute of India.
Painted in the 1890s at the peak of Varma’s career, the oil-on-canvas depicts infant Krishna with his foster mother Yashoda, who’s shown milking a cow. The work reflects Varma’s signature blend of European realism and Indian mythology. It is executed in chiaroscuro, a technique that uses strong, dramatic contrast between light and dark.
“This is a defining moment for the Indian art market,” said Ashish Anand, CEO and managing director of DAG (formerly Delhi Art Gallery). “At ₹167.2 crore, Raja Ravi Varma’s ‘Yashoda and Krishna’—a universal subject reminiscent as much of ‘Madonna and Christ’, or of any mother and child, and arguably the most iconic and desirable work, the Mona Lisa of Indian art—has not only achieved a new world record, it has done so with conviction, more than doubling its lower estimate of ₹80 crore, exceeding it by ₹87.2 crore—an increase of over 100%,” he added.
The sale builds on other high-profile bids such as Husain’s Gram Yatra, along with Amrita Sher-Gil’s 1937 ‘The Story Teller,’ which fetched ₹61.8 crore in 2023.
For Anand, the sale signals a shift in the Indian art market itself. “The fact that this is a non-exportable national treasure and a registered antiquity further underscores a maturing collector base—one that is both globally competitive and deeply invested in retaining cultural patrimony within India,” he said.
“This is not simply a record. It is a redefinition of the category.”
Born in 1848 in the erstwhile princely state of Travancore in Kerala, Varma was among the first Indian artists to blend European techniques with Indian iconography and artistic sensibilities. His work continues to have an influence on literature, fashion, cinema and advertising.
