Kerala Mural Paintings

Murals constitute the pictorial representation of mythological and legendary incidents of any region, thus of the paintings done for aesthetic purposes alone. Basically, they belong to the fresco style with several regional variations and specificity. Searching for the roots of Kerala mural painting takes us back into the 7th, 8th centuries. They function as a sort of ‘dynamic theater stills’, elucidating characters and episodes, preserving a whole lot of traditions always in communion with the past, as brilliant picturesque reminders of our ethos. The tradition of Kerala temple mural painting continues to influence contemporary artists, carrying forward the essence of traditional Kerala mural painting even today.

Pigments and glues prepared from materials obtained from nature, purified and mixed in definite proportions are applied on freshly prepared walls of temples, churches, palaces, and houses. Brushes made of natural materials are used to apply the prepared pigments in dot and lines, over light washes if needed, to compose each figure. The resilience of the pigments offers strength and stability to the painting, assuring long life to the work done. Anatomy of characters, including animals, trees, etc., are represented in a regionally stylized form. One panel might hold several scenes separated by specific lines (manimala). Yellow, red, green, white, and black are the most prominent hues seen in the Kerala mural painting tradition.

Kerala temple mural painting is deeply symbolic, where deities when drawn are mostly based on the invocatory verses found in the relevant ancient scriptures. When such a work is undertaken, a muralist is instructed to follow certain observances and meditate upon the proposed form. These practices form the foundation of traditional Kerala mural painting, where the various components in a panel remind us of iconography symbols as well as the patterns and figures done on floors using powdered natural pigments (kalamezhuthu), pointing towards the evolution of the mural style.