The portrait which dates back to the 19th century was painted by an Irish-born painter, Thomas Hickey, and it makes an extremely crucial point in the way people perceived medical treatments and vaccination.
The painting also marks an important juncture in British colonial history.?In it, you see?Pattamahisi Devajammani, the senior-most queen of Krishnaraja Wadiyar; he married her in 1801. On the right is Maharani Devajamanni and the junior queen of Krishnaraja.??
Krishnaraja Wodiyar III was the new ruler of the southern Indian kingdom of Mysore, when Devajammani arrived at the royal court in 1805, to marry him. Both of them were 12 years of age.?
According to?Dr Nigel Chancellor, a historian at Cambridge University, "Devajammani soon found herself recruited for a more momentous cause - to publicise and promote the smallpox vaccine. And her unwitting role was captured in a painting commissioned by the East India Company to 'encourage participation in the vaccination programme'," the?BBC reported.
The aim was to gain public confidence for smallpox vaccination.? Devajammani, the younger queen. would have typically covered her left arm, but it was left exposed so she could point to where she had been vaccinated "with a minimum loss of dignity" Chancellor observed.
The portrait, an arresting rendition in oil on canvas, was last offered for sale via Sotheby's auction house in 2007.
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Its subjects were unknown - and thought to be dancing girls or courtesans - until Chancellor stumbled upon it. The woman on the left, he believes, is the king's first wife, also named Devajammani.?
The marked discolouration under her nose and around her mouth is consistent with controlled exposure to the smallpox virus, Chancellor said.
Not least because it was being championed by the British, whose power was rising at the turn of the 19th century.?
Chancellor cited details to support his theory, which was first published in an article in 2001.?
For one, the date of the painting matches the Wodiyar king's wedding dates and the court records from July 1806, announcing that Devjammmani's vaccination had a "salutary influence" on people who came forward to be inoculated.?
Two, as an expert in Mysore history, Chancellor is certain the "heavy gold sleeve bangles" and "the magnificent head dresses" are characteristic of Wodiyar queens. Also, the artist, Thomas Hickey, had earlier painted the Wodiyars and other members of the court.
The most important, he wrote, is the "compelling candour" with which they engage the viewer. Half-smiling royal women striking a casual pose for a European painter is rare enough to raise eyebrows. And the Wodiyars would not have risked a scandal, Chancellor said, for a run-of-the-mill portrait.
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It was also a time when?disease and traditional healing practices went hand-in hand - a practice still prevalent.
The credit for that politicking, according to Chancellor, goes to the king's grandmother, Lakshmi Ammani, who had lost her husband to smallpox. He believes she is the woman in the middle of the portrait of the three women, buttressing the Wodiyar stamp of approval for the vaccine. The "oval face and enormous eyes" are typical of the family.?Chancellor says the painting was possible because she was in charge - the king was too young to object and the queens were too young to refuse.
The vaccine was also seen as? threat to the livelihood of? Brahmin variolators, or "tikadars".?
The campaign continued as people came to realise the benefits of the procedure, and many tikadars switched over from variolation to vaccination. By 1807, Bennett estimated, more than a million vaccine doses had been administered.
On June 14, 1802, Anna Dusthall became the first person in India to be successfully vaccinated against smallpox. Little else is known about her, except that she was "remarkably good tempered", according to the notes of the doctor who vaccinated her. Dusthall was partly of European descent, Bennett said, but her mother's heritage is unknown.??
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All Inputs BBC/IANS