Murals of God’s Own Country

The mural paintings in Kerala are proof of the innate creative instincts that humans possess. There is innovation and resourcefulness involved in every step of making these frescos, which will be explored in the article given below.

A temple mural painting from the 9th- 12th century                                                                        Source: Sutrajournal

Art has long been used as a form of expression; it has evolved a lot since cave paintings. An example of this would be the evolution of murals in Kerala, from the traditional Dravidian art form of Kalamezhuthu.

Kerala is said to have the second largest mural paintings in India, after Rajasthan. These prehistoric paintings were mostly made in the 14th century and can be found in over 150 temples in Kerala. They are an artistic blend of mythology, nature, culture, the Bhakti Movement and various other such religious and political motifs. The subject of these artworks is gods, goddesses, kings, birds, animals, flora and fauna. They derive inspiration from the Puranas, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The earliest of these murals were found in the Tirunandikara Cave Temple, which is in the present-day Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu, and was speculated to have been painted in the eighth century. From temples, these murals were even popularised in palaces and churches.

Restored mural paintings in St Mary’s Orthodox Syrian Church, Kottayam                                                                                                    Source: Onmanorama

The five fundamental colours or Panchvarna used in these frescos are red, yellow, green, black and white. The colours are derived from eco-friendly sources like mineral pigments and vegetables like leaves, fruits, stones and ores. Tender coconut water and the extracts of neem trees are incorporated with the colours derived in a wooden bowl. Each of these colours had a different significance attached to it. Shades of green were associated with characters that were spiritual, dharmic and divine. Red and golden yellow are affiliated with power and materialistic wealth and wicked and immoral figures are painted in white or black. The brushes used were of different dimensions and were made from organic sources like the hair at the back of calve’s ears, hair under a goat’s belly, tails of muskrats and delicate strands of grasses which were called Iyyampallu or Kuntalipallu. Preparing a wall for painting involved three stages of plastering using lime, sand, cotton and juice of tender coconuts. The steps following the preparation of the wall are the sketching of the figures, application of the colours and adding the decorative details.

The Portuguese traveller Castaneda, accompanied by Vasco da Gama had encountered the murals in a Bhagavati temple at Kappad, Kozhikode in 1498 A.D. They mistook the work of worship to be a native church and upon seeing the paintings of Vishnu they mistook the ‘monstrous looking images’ with four arms to be the pictures of devils. On the topic of colonial forces, the mural art form suffered greatly during the British administration.  The murals saw a resurgence in the 70s after a fire broke out in the Guruvayoor Temple. There were very few practising mural artists at the time, three veterans to be exact: Mammiyur Krishnankutty Nair, M.K. Sreenivasan and K.K. Varier. These led to the opening of many art schools, which revived this ancient art form and restored it back to its former glory. The murals are also used nowadays in contemporary art galleries and in the interiors of restaurants and hotels.

Spice Route Restaurant, Delhi                                                                           Source: Academia