1. The small town of Kilimanoor had to open a post office due to Ravi Varma, as letters and requests for paintings came flooding in for him from various corners of the country!
2. Seeing Raja Ravi Varma as a potential rival, Ramaswamy Naicker refused to teach him the technique. Arumugham Pillai, Naicker’s student taught Varma the nuances of oil painting.
3. In 2013, a crater on Mercury was named ‘Varma’ in his honour! Sugandha Bai the model thought to be the subject of many Raja Ravi Varma paintings is a fictional character.
4. Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings were the inspiration for India’s largest-selling comic book series, the Amar Chitra Katha comics! ‘Parsi-Lady’ is considered to be the last painting by him, which is an incomplete painting.
5. According to the Guinness World Records, the most expensive sari in the world is an 8 kilograms sari ‘Vivah Patu’ priced at Rs 40 lakh which pays tribute to his paintings.