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Murals -A Brief History
Kerala Murals
Murals in Temples
Murals in Palaces
Murals
A mural is a painting on a wall, ceiling, or
other large permanent surface. Painting
applied to and made integral with the
surface of a wall or ceiling. A mural is art
painted directly on a wall, making it a
visual component of a building. Throughout
history, murals have been created for a
spectrum of environments, including caves,
churches, state capitals, factories,
corporations, schools, libraries, post
offices, courthouses, and residences. By
nature of the medium, mural painting is
typically restricted by several conditions,
including scale, orientation, fixed spatial
requirements, the purpose of the
architectural structure, and the
appropriateness of its subject matter for
its patron or audience. Unlike an easel
painter, the muralist must consider and
overcome all or several of these factors in
the construction of his or her imagery.
Mural painting
involves inherent social obligations and
formal strategies that extend beyond the
scope of a purely personal vision to a
broader form of communication that is often
rooted in shared social beliefs. Its roots
can be found in the universal desire that
led prehistoric peoples to create cave
paintings — the desire to decorate their
surroundings and express their ideas and
beliefs. The Romans produced large numbers
of murals in Pompeii and Ostia, but mural
painting (not synonymous with fresco)
reached its highest degree of creative
achievement in Europe with the work of such
Renaissance masters as Masaccio, Fra
Angelico, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo,
and Raphael.
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Kerala Murals
Kerala holds the second place, with a large
collection of archeologically important
mural sites in India. Evolved as a
compliment to her unique architectural
style, these wall paintings are
characterized by their liner accuracy, the
adherence to colour symbolism elaborate
ornamentations and sensitive portrayal of
emotions. The art of painting on walls in
Kerala dates back to prehistoric era.
Paintings found in the Anjanad Valley of
Idukki District are believed to be the
oldest. Archaeologists opine that these
belong to different periods from early
Paleolithic era to recent past that the
history can reach. Rock engravings belonging
to Mesolithic era also were unearthed in
Edakkal in Wynad and Perumkadavila in
Thiruvananthapuram District.
The source and
inspiration of Kerala style mural painting
may be the Dravidian temple devotional art
of Kalamezhuthu. Mural tradition of Kerala
influenced by the Pallava art can be traced
back to seventh and eighth century AD. The
oldest murals in Kerala were discovered in
the rock cut cave temple of Thiruvandikkara,
which is now in the Kanyakumari district of
Tamilnadu.
Ancient
temples, churches and palaces in Kerala,
South India, display an abounding tradition
of mural paintings mostly dating back
between the 9th to 12th centuries AD when
this form of art enjoyed Royal patronage.
The subjects derived from religious texts
were highly stylized pictures of gods and
goddesses of the Hindu pantheon, not a
fanciful representation but drawn from the
description in the invocatory verses or 'dyana
slokas'. Flora and fauna and other aspects
of nature were pictured as backdrops, in
highly stylized manners.
The murals of
Thirunadhikkara Cave Temple (now ceded to
Tamil Nadu) and Tiruvanchikulam are
considered the oldest relics of Kerala’s own
style of murals. Fine mural paintings are
depicted in temples at Trikodithanam,
Ettumanur, Vaikom, Udayanapuram, Triprangode,
Guruvayoor, the Vadakkunathan temple in
Trichur and the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple
at Thiruvananthapuram. Other mural sites are
in the churches at Edappalli, Vechur,
Cheppad and Mulanthuruthi, and at palaces
such as the Krishnapuram Palace near
Kayamkulam and the Padmanabhapuram Palace.
The murals of
Kanthaloor Temple in Thiruvananthapuram
(13th Century), Pisharikavu and Kaliliampath
in Kozhikode distict (14th Century) are the
oldest temple frescoes of Kerala.
Representing this prolific period of mural
arts (14th and 16th centuries A.D), are the
Ramayana murals of Mattanchery palace, the
paintings in the Chemmanthitta Siva Temple,
Kudamaloor and Thodeekkalam in Kannur
district. The wall paintings at
Panayannarkavu, Thichakrapuram, Kottakkal,
Padmanabhapuram and Krishnapuram palaces and
those in the inner chambers of Mattanchery
palace, represent a much later period in the
evolution of medieval mural tradition.
The
traditional style mural art form, using
natural pigments and vegetable colours, is
being revived by a new genre of artists
actively involved in researching and
teaching mural art at the Sree Sankara
Sanskrit College in Kalady and also at a
mural art school associated with the
Guruvayoor temple.
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Murals Paintings
The Murals of Kerala bear the stamp of
uniqueness in aesthetic composition and
technique. Murals came into vogue in Kerala
as early as the 8th century AD.
The most
antique Murals of Kerala are found in the
Thirunandikkara Cave Temple in
Thiruvananthapuram district, now a part of
Kanya Kumari district of the neighbouring
state of Tamil Nadu. The temple and palace
murals of Kerala are invariably sagas of
Hindu gods and goddesses and visual poems of
their heroic deeds.
The Murals in
Padmanabhapuram Palace offer a feast of
colours and motifs for the connoisseur of
art. The triple storeyed 'Uppirikka Malika'
houses the retiring chamber of the king and
the heir apparent. An important feature of
the palace is the exquisite wood work of the
ceiling and fine murals on the walls.
The murals in
subdued brownish tints were executed on wet
wall plaster depicting themes from Ramayana,
Bhagavatham and Kumarasambhavam of Kalidasa.
The main chamber has its inner walls
decorated with fine Murals of gods and
goddesses. The central motif is
Anathapadmanabha, the chief deity of the
erstwhile Travancore Maharajas.
The Murals of
Krishnapuram Palace near Kayamkulam are
visual wonders of artistic perfection.
Gajendra Moksham, the largest mural panel in
Kerala is a major attraction. The Murals of
Mattancherry Palace are dramatic
picturisations of the Ramayana and the
Bhagvatha.
The Murals of
the Shiva Temple in Ettumanoor provide an
insight into the earliest forms of the
Dravidian mural art. The mural of Shiva as
Nataraja, symbolic of the eternal cosmic
dance, is the most outstanding Mural here.
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Temple Murals
Indian temples have not only been centers of
worship, but have also been venues for
expression of the creativity of the human
spirit using a range of media. Thus, temple
culture has promoted art in a variety of
shapes and forms. Examples include and are
not restricted to music and dance,
architecture, sculpture, woodwork and
paintings. Paintings form the focus of this
brief feature on Templenet.
The dictionary
meaning of the word mural is a very large
image applied directly to a wall or a
ceiling. Indeed, ornate murals are seen
several temples all over India as a part of
the complex tapestry of decorative work that
have evolved through the ages. It may be a
little known fact that one of the largest
murals ever painted in Asia happens to be on
the ceiling of the shrine at the
Veerabhadreswara temple at Lepakshi in
Andhra Pradesh in South India.
The phrase
Indian murals, immediately brings the Ajanta
paintings to one's mind. The Ajanta
paintings date back to the earlier part of
the 1st millennium CE and are primarily
Buddhist in religious affiliation. These
murals painted with vegetable and mineral
dyes in caves were discovered in early 19th
century.
The murals at Ajanta represent the Buddha as
well as instances from the Jataka tales. The
Ajanta and Ellora caves form part of well
visited tourist circuits in the state of
Maharashtra.
The 6th
century Chalukyan rulers of South India also
used painting as a medium in expressing
their creativity, as seen in the murals of
Badami in Karnataka depicting for instance
the royal court of Indra the King of the
Devas. Badami, also known as Vatapi was won
over by the Pallavas later, and an image of
Ganesha brought back to the Chola empire by
Sirutonda Naayanaar is enshrined at
Tiruchenkaattankudi in Tamilnadu.
Sittannavaasal
near Pudukkottai (near Tiruchirappalli) in
Tamilnadu has Jain murals from the Pandya
period.
The
Brihadeeswarar temple in Thanjavur which
dates back to the 11th century CE has many
murals within. The enclosure surrounding the
sanctum here has brilliant works of art,
both in terms of sculpture and painting. The
ancient Chola murals once covered all the
walls and ceilings of this enclosure. Later
17th century paintings of the Nayak period
were added over them; however some of the
older Chola murals have been restored. Seen
in this enclosure around the sanctum is an
image of the monarch Raja Raja Cholan who
was primarily responsible for temple
centered cultural growth shown with his
preceptor Karuvoor Devar. . It is to be
noted that this monarch renovated (and
rebuilt with stone) several of the temples
in the Chola kingdom that had been visited
and praised by the Tamil Saints of the
Bhakti movement of the 2nd half of the 1st
millennium CE.
Mention must
also be made of a mural (in this enclosure)
that depicts grand cosmic dance of Nataraja
at Chidambaram. Depicted in this mural are
images of Rajaraja Chola and his queens.
There is also a gigantic painting of Shiva
as Tripurantaka, depicted on the northern
wall of the enclosure.
A large
circumambulatory passage (prakaram)
surrounds the main temple. It is bounded by
fortress like walls lined with a pillared
cloister. At the back of this pillared
cloister that lines the entire stretch of
the walls, there are several cells filled
with Shiva lingams, and on the walls are
paintings belonging to a much later period.
The
Vijayanagar rulers were amongst the greatest
of temple builders. Lepakshi in Andhra
Pradesh houses the Virabhadreswara Swami
temple. This temple is known for its
exquisite carvings in the unfinished Kalyana
Mandapam as well as for its collossal Nandi
and its elegant murals which depict the
various manifestations of Shiva. The murals
here are full of vitality. Mention must be
made of depictions of Kirataarjuneeyam,
Dakshinamurthy and the divine wedding of
Shiva and Parvati. The mukhamandapa has an
50 feet long panel, which bears paintings
narrating the legend of Manu needhi Cholan
(also portrayed in Tiruvarur which
incidentally also houses murals depicting
the legend of Mucukunda Chakravarti). The
mukhamandapam also bears paintings depicting
Krishna as a child, and scenes from the
Mahabharata illustrating Draupadi's wedding.
The
ardhamandapam of the Lepakshi temple bears
paintings of 14 of the manifestations of
Shiva (Dakshinamurti, Chandesa Anugraha
murthy, Bhikshatana, Harihara,
Ardhanareeswara, Kalyanasundara,
Tripurantaka, Nataraja, Gowriprasadaka,
Lingodbhava, Andakaasurasamhaara etc.) The
sanctum's ceiling bears a large painting
which is said to be Asia's largest mural.
This large painting of Veerabhadra measures
about 23 feet by 13 feet. Elsewhere in the
Lepakshi temple are paintings depicting the
incarnations of Vishnu. The Lepakshi temple
is an unfinished temple (in part), but is a
perfect synthesis of architecture, sculpture
and painting.
The
Vijayanagar ruler's patronage extended deep
into Tamilnadu and the brilliant murals in
the Srirangam temple are yet another feature
in the never ending display of art treasures
in a vast temple complex that is also a
repository of ancient worship traditions. In
the innermost circumambulatory passage in
the Srirangam temple are 300 year old
paintings depicting scenes from the epics.
The Nayak and
the Maratha period of the mid and later 2nd
millennium CE also saw a flourising of art.
Seen in the Brihadeeswarar temple are more
recent murals were painted over the more
ancient Chola paintings.
Many of the
temples of Kerala boast of grand murals all
around the sanctum in the innermost
enclosure. Mention must be made of paintings
in the Ananta Padmanabhaswamy temple in
Tiruvanandapuram and the Ettumanur Mahadevar
temple at Ettumanur.
One of the
best displays of murals is the Chitrasabha
or the hall of pictures. As the name
Chitrasabha suggests, the very structure is
a house of paintings. The Chitrasabha is a
stand alone structure, that is located a few
blocks away from the Kutralanathar temple at
Kutralam in southern Tamilnadu. It is a
wooden structure , every inch of whose walls
are lined with murals depicting scenes from
the epics. From the outside, the Chitrasabha
resembles mandapams seen in Keralite
temples. The Chitrasabha or the hall of
pictures is used for worship only during
Margazhi Tiruvadirai where an image of
Nataraja is brought into the sabha.
Chitrasabha is considered to be one of the 5
sabhas, or the Cosmic Dance Halls of Shiva
Nataraja in the southern state of Tamilnadu.
The Murals of
the Shiva Temple in Ettumanoor provide an
insight into the earliest forms of the
Dravidian mural art. The mural of Shiva as
Nataraja, symbolic of the eternal cosmic
dance, is the most outstanding Mural here.
This spectacular painting, 217 cms in height
and 360 cms in width, is situated on the
inner wall of the southern side of the
temple tower, called as the 'Gopuram'.
Vadakkumnathan temple which is one of the
oldest temples in the state, is a classical
example of the kerala style of architecture
and has many decorative murals and pieces of
art. Magnificent murals here explain the
epic of the Mahabharata. These magnificent
structures that were once the abodes of
royal personages today stand as brilliant
displays of royal architecture of Kerala.
The illustrious murals that can be found in
the palaces are episodes and moments drawn
from Hindu epics.
Thodikkulam
Temple, Kannur is another example for
excellent mural work. Temples and palaces
were the ancient galleries for mural
paintings in Kerala. One such at Kannur
district which has been attracting a large
number of art lovers from all over the world
is the Siva temple at Kannavam. Here there
are nearly 150 mural paintings, on an area
of 700 sq ft. in about 40 panels, drawn on
the four walls of the sanctum sanctorum.
Based on
Saivic and Vaishnavic (myths related to Lord
Siva and Lord Vishnu respectively) themes,
the murals here portray the village life
from the 16th to 18th centuries. These are
depicted along with scenes like Rugmini
Swayamvaram (Vaishnavic), Ravana vadham etc
from the epics.
The murals
reveal the skill and perfection of the
artistes who once lived in this land. In
these times mural painting followed certain
standards in the choice of colour,
proportions, methods etc. Only natural
pigments were used in the making of murals.
The commonly used colours in the murals of
Kerala are saffron-red, saffron-yellow,
green, red, white, blue, black, yellow and
golden yellow.
The art of
painting in Kerala has a tradition, which
goes back to the immediate Post-Aganta
Period. The murals of Tirunandikkara (Kanya
Kumari Dist) are the specimens of this art
in Kerala and they are believed to be of
Pandiyan origin. Churches of Kerala also
contain some valuable pieces of paintings.
The
performance of religious rites necessitated
the development of a special kind of
pictorial art in Kerala known as Kalamezuthu.
Raja Ravi Verma is one of the outstanding
names in the art of painting in Kerala.
Paintings in
Kerala date at least a thousand years back.
The earliest of murals, attributing to the
kerala's tradition are found in a small cave
shrine in the southern part of erstwhile
Travancore.
The murals of
the temples at Haripad, Aranmula, Vaikom and
Udayapuram are exquisite specimens of
artistic excellence. The pinnacle of
achievements in pictorial art is visible on
the walls of the shrine at Sree
Padmanabhaswami temple, Thiruvananthapurm,
executed in the true native style.
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Murals In Palace
Murals of Kerala are classified as "Fresco-secco".
They are prepared following special
techniques outlined in 'Shilparatna', a
principal text on Indian painting
techniques. Surfaces are treated with
special mixtures and solutions and colour
dyes prepared from vegetable or mineral
pigments and crude chemicals are used.
Panayannarkkavu Murals at Panayannarkkavu (Parumala),
Ettumanoor Murals at the Siva Temple in
Ettumanoor (Kottyam), Pundareekapuram Murals
at Pundareekapuram temple at
Thalayolapparambu (Kottayam), Mattancherry
Murals at the Bhagavathy temple in Kochi,
Kottakkal Murals at Venkatta Tevar Siva
Temple in Kottakkal (Kozhikkode) are the
famous examples of mural paintings. Most of
these depict lives or instances from sacred
books and epics.Intricate carvings, murals
and exquisite wall paintings reflect the
prolific talent of the sculptors and
painters who enjoyed the patronage of
Travancore kings.
The Hill Palace Museum, Thripunithura – Hill
Palace, the official residence of the
erstwhile Kochi royal family, was built in
1865. A full-fledged ethno-archaeological
museum and Kerala’s first ever heritage
museum are the main attractions. Displayed
inside the thirteen galleries are oil
paintings, 19th century paintings, murals,
sculptures in stones and plaster of Paris,
manuscripts, inscriptions and coins
belonging to the royal family.
The extraordinary murals, exquisite floral
carvings and the black glossy granite floor
have withstood the test of time.
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