Kerala mural painting
also: Kerala murals · Chuvar chithram
Kerala mural painting is a fresco tradition covering the walls and ceilings of Kerala's temples, palaces and churches with scenes from Hindu mythology. Its great flowering came between the ninth and twelfth centuries under royal patronage, with the oldest surviving examples at the Thirunadhikkara cave temple and Tiruvanchikulam; the Ramayana murals of Mattancherry Palace and the paintings of the Vadakkumnatha and Ettumanoor temples count as its masterpieces. The craft is governed by Sanskrit treatises - above all the Chitrasutra of the Vishnu Dharmottara Purana - which fix iconography, proportion and pose. Pigments are ground from laterite, lime, lamp soot and indigo and bound with coconut water on lime-plastered walls. Weakened under British rule, the tradition was revived after independence in 1947 through training centres such as the Centre for Study of Mural Paintings at Guruvayur.
Defining characteristics
- Five-colour palette (panchavarna): red, yellow, green and black over the white of the prepared wall
- Figures built up by stippled tonal gradation within firm dark outlines
- Scripture-fixed iconography: deities posed and proportioned according to Dhyanaslokas
- Characters colour-coded by nature - divine figures green, powerful figures red to gold, demonic figures white or black
- Lime-plaster walls prepared with sand and cotton and burnished with dozens of lime-and-coconut washes
- Dense narrative surfaces framed by scrolling foliage and ornamental borders
Key figures
- Mammiyoor Krishnan Kutty Nair (fl. late 20th century) — Chief instructor of the Centre for Study of Mural Paintings at Guruvayur, leading the post-independence revival
- Saju Thuruthil (fl. late 20th century) — Teacher of mural technique at the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady
Example works
- Ramayana murals of Mattancherry Palace — Anonymous workshop (17th-18th century)
- Gajendra Moksham mural, Krishnapuram Palace — Anonymous workshop (18th century)
- Thirunadhikkara cave temple murals — Anonymous workshop (c. 9th-12th century)
Sources
- Kerala mural painting - Wikipedia encyclopedia