Born in Cochin , Kerela of a German father and an Indian mother , Muller joined the Madras School of Art , where his work was highly regarded . He worked for a time in his brother's photographic studio , but by 1910 he had moved to Bombay where in 1911 he won the Bombay Art Society Award . He enjoyed the patronage of a number of princely states , including Nawalgarh , Jaipur , Bikaner and Jodhpur and painted many narrative pictures , often based upon Ramayana and Mahabharata.