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When Ramacharya Saw My Bichali Painting: A Meeting I Will Never Forget

A Painting That Began With a Story

Some paintings begin with a reference. Some begin with imagination.

But occasionally, a painting comes back to you through a person who carries the history of the very subject you painted. That happened to me with my painting of Bichali Rayar and Appanacharya. In 2005, I created this painting based on what I had heard from my friend Devadass and from Savithri Amma. I had never been to Bichali myself. I first worked on the subject as a line drawing and then developed it into a coloured painting. At that time, it was simply a painting I had created with faith, interest and whatever I had learned about Bichali and Appanacharya. I had no idea where that painting would eventually take me.

My Bichali Rayar and Appanacharya Painting

When I look back now, one thing about the painting stands out to me. I had never actually visited Bichali. The painting was created through stories, conversations and my own imagination as an artist. I tried to bring the subject to life through line, form and colour. Once the painting was finished, I kept it with me. I didn’t know who would see it. I didn’t know whether it would ever be published. Most importantly, I didn’t know that it would eventually connect me with people who had a much deeper connection to the tradition behind the painting.

A Visit to the Triplicane Mutt

In 2005, I went to a mutt in Triplicane. I was there with a Brindavanam painting see explore opportunities. But that visit turned out to be about much more than selling a painting. During that visit, I met Late Sri Badadha Ramacharya, who was connected with the lineage of Appanacharya and Bichali. I showed him my Bichali painting. His reaction is something I still remember.

When Sri Badadha Ramacharya Saw the Painting

Late Sri Badadha Ramacharya looked at the painting. Then he embraced me. He asked me how I had created it. For me, this was an extraordinary moment. Until then, the Bichali painting had existed mainly in my own artistic world. I had created it from what I had heard and understood. Now, someone connected to the lineage and history behind the subject was standing in front of the painting. He wasn’t simply looking at colours on a canvas. For him, the painting had a connection to something much deeper. That made the moment very special to me.

When a Painting Connects an Artist to History

An artist can spend hours looking at a subject, studying it, imagining it and finally putting it on paper or canvas. But we can never completely know what happens to that artwork after it leaves our hands. Sometimes it finds an ordinary viewer. Sometimes it finds another artist. And sometimes it reaches someone who has a personal connection to the history behind the subject.

That is what happened with my Bichali Rayar and Appanacharya painting. My painting had started from stories. It now stood before someone connected to that story. That changed the way I looked at my own work.

From the Mutt to Savithri Amma’s House

After this meeting, we went to Savithri Amma’s house. The conversation around the painting continued. What had begun as a simple artistic attempt was slowly becoming a journey involving people, memories and connections.At the time, I didn’t realise how important these meetings would become.I certainly didn’t know that this same painting would later connect me with Amman Sathyanathan and Shri.A.M.Rajagopalan. And I had no idea that it would eventually find its way into a Kumudham publicationS.

The Journey of the Bichali Painting Had Just Begun

Looking back, I feel that I created the painting. But after that, the painting created its own journey. It travelled from my hands to a book, from a book to people connected with its subject, and from one person to another. My meeting with Ramachar was one of the first important moments in that journey. What began as a Bichali painting created from stories and inspiration had now become a bridge between an artist and a living connection to the tradition of Bichali and Appanacharya. And this was only the beginning. The story of the painting would soon bring me to another unexpected person – Amman Sathyanathan.

That is the next chapter of this journey.