Varnam 2021

 

Traditional Mural painting

Kerala's murals stand tall in India's artistic history, with their technical excellence, spiritualized storytelling, bold strokes, bright colors and uniquely idealized people, animals and trees. Only the Indian state of Rajasthan has more murals than Kerala.

Recent mural history can be traced to the seventh and eighth century ce. It is not unlikely that the early Kerala murals and architecture came heavily under the influence of the Pallava dynasty. During the 13th century the first frescos were created at Kanthaloor, Temple in Tiruvananthapuram district. From then to the sixteenth century, hundreds of works blossomed in palaces and sacred chambers throughout the state, a treasure trove of imagery depicting the many manifestations of Siva, Vishnu in His various incarnations and the beloved Ganesha.

Archaeological evidence indicates the most prolific period of mural art in Kerala began in the mid-sixteenth century. Many of the most exquisite murals were painted during the 15th and 16th centuries.

The finest illustrations of this period are considered to be the Mattanchery Palace panels, depicting the Ramayana and the marriage of Parvati, and the temple paintings at Thrissur, Chemmanthitta and Thodeekkalam. Of all the ancient works, only two are dated: one in 1691 in the Pallimanna Siva Temple at Trichur, and a second in 1731 in the Sankaranarayana shrine of the Vadakkunatha Temple complex. The murals of Panayannarkavu are notable for their linear accuracy, and agreeable color combinations. It is a little difficult to date these paintings, but presumably during the closing years of the reign of the King of Chirava, a branch of the Odanadu royal house.

Even local Christian churches, recognizing this revival and the importance of mural art in Kerala, have employed this art form to depict the Last Supper and other Christian stories, in the attempt to give their imported history a distinctively local look.
Color and Content.

The subjects for murals are typically derived from religious culture and texts, peopled with highly stylized pictures of the Gods and Goddesses of the Hindu pantheon. Other common subjects are rishis and sages, their exploits and those of kings and warriors, as well as royal attendants, processions and the significant events which define the history of the place.

"The figures are highly stylized and rendered with elongated eyes, painted lips, exaggerated eyebrows and explicit body and hand gestures (mudras), decorated with elaborate headdresses and exuberant, overflowing ornaments. The strong and voluminous figures of Kerala murals with their elaborate headdresses have a close association with the characters from the dance dramas of Kerala.

Murals depict the epics, like Ramayana, and the classic frolics of Krishna as well as the mystic forms of Siva and Shakti. They recount the Hindu myths and the Kerala forms of worship and lifestyle. As backdrops to these highly stylized works, flora and fauna and other aspects of nature are also pictured

Colours in Traditional Mural Painitng

Kerala murals are also typified by their rich, warm and loud colors. A traditional Kerala mural strictly follows the Pancha-varna (five colors) scheme, using only red, yellow, green, black and white. In fact, it is this adherence to a limited earthy palette that gives the murals much of their distinctive look and feel.

White, yellow, black and red are the pure colors, according to Shilparatna. The ocher yellow, ocher red, white, bluish green and pure green are the more important colors.

All pigments are derived from natural materials, such as minerals and stones, oils, juices., roots and herbs. The yellow and red colors are mixed from minerals (arsenic sulfide and mercuric sulfide), green from the juice of a plant locally called Eravikkara, black from the soot of oil lamps. White, the base, is prepared with lime. Colors are mixed in a wooden bowl with tender coconut water and exudates from the neem tree. Other methods, minerals and herbs are occasionally used, but always natural.

The colors relate to the gunas, or attributes, of the subjects. For instance, green is employed for depicting the sattva (balanced, pure or divine) divinities; red and yellow for rajas (active, irascible) characters, and white for tamas (inert or base) events and creatures.

Exacting Techniques

Mural artists are not merely illustrators but chemists as well, creating a complex concoction that will not only receive the organic pigments but will then resist the erosion of the elements for hundreds of years.

The walls must be painstakingly prepared with a rough plastering of lime and sand mixed with the juice of kadukkai or of a vine called chunnambuvelli, all dissolved with palm sugar (jaggery). A smooth plaster--a similar mix with ground cotton added--is then applied. After ten days, 25 to 30 coats of quicklime and tender coconut water are applied, creating a thickness of about half an inch. Lemon juice is used to mellow the alkalinity of the surface. The mural is painted only after the wall is completely dry, using the fresco (Italian for fresh) technique of mural painting, which involves the rapid application of water-soluble pigments in a damp lime wash.

The art itself is defined in six stages

1.     Lekhya karma - Sketching of the outlines is done in a light yellow color.

2.     2. Rekha karma - which enhances and gives dimension to the outlines.

3.     Varna karma - Breathes life into the subject with the addition of colors.

4.     Vartana karma - Shading is added for depth and definition.

5.     Lekha karma - Tedious outlining of all forms, usually with black.

6.     Dvika karma - Life is given to the eyes of the Deities and people, "awakening or stirring the work to life." This is also called samarpanam, which means an offering from the artist. A fine coat of resin is then painted on the surface to give it a glossy look.

CHURCH FRESCOES IN KERALA

The Syond of Diamper in 1599 had decreed the need for decorating churches with paintings as well as images. A very common feature of churches is the paintings in oils on the wooden screens in the altar. Frescoes, if any, invariably decorated the walls around the altar. Murals on the roof above the altar also were not very rare.

If Christian frescoes painters seemed to have paid more attention to a more or less realistic representation of the human anatomy, temple muralists delighted in presenting a highly imaginative and idealistic notion of person and things.

The Church at Cheppad

The St.George’s Orthodox Church at Cheppad in Kayamkulm, Alappuzha is believed to have been constructed partially with portions of an old 13 th century church at Haripad.

The forty nine odd frescoes in this are fine examples of the Christian mural art of the early medieval period. They can be dated as earlier than those at Vallom, Kanjoor or Koratty churches.

The Themes are all Biblical ranging from the annunciation of Mary, Jesus’ birth, the flight unto Egypt, the Last Supper and pictures of the Crucified Christ. How ever the most remarkable ones here ere those of Noah and his Ark, Judas’ betrayal of Christ and Jesus with his disciples.

Mar Sabore and Afroth Church

The centuries old Syrian-Jacobite church is situated at Akapparambu near Ankamali(Eranakulam). The present Church is only a replacement or perhaps and enlargement of the ancient structure.

On the upper halves of the walls around the alter are some remarkable beautiful frescoes, surely the best example of church murals of Kerala.

Satan tempting Eve in the Garden of Eden, Prophet Elijah handing over his mantle to Elisha before ascending to heaven, mosses on mount Sinai with the tablet of the ten commandments, Sabore and Afroth engaged in theological arguments with Namboothiri Brahmins are among the Interest murals here.

St.Mary’s Church, Kanjoor

There are two large frescoes on either side of the main door of the church.Apart from this there are several oil paintings around the alter. The two frescoes are commemoration of the defeat of tippu’s marauding army when it sought to plunder the church in 1790. While one mural has captured the fierce and bloody encounter between tippu’s troops and the combined forces of British cannons and native infantry, the other is a victory march of the letter. Grue some details like a corpse of one of the marauders pitch forked at the end of a British bayonet bring out the horror and the mercilessness of war. This fresco is thus significant from a historical perspective also

Kottayam Cheriyapalli

This is an old church tucked one and a half kms from the centre of Kottayam town. The church and surrounding places are steeped in history being in the times of the Thekkumkoor kings.

Cheriyapalli has some fairly large comparatively fine murals. There is a painting of the last Supper, Judas accepting the silver for his betrayal, Jesus’ disciples waiting for him in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus being whipped and dragged publicly. His trial, Pontius Pilate, washing his hands after condemning Christ to the cross, the Crucifixion, the Virgin Mother with the body of Christ on her lap and Christ’s ascension are the other frescoes here. But here what we cannot help noticing is the color of Christ’s robe, which is ochre rather than white. Ochre in Hindu concept is a color related to mysticism and spirituality.

Other churches in Kerala that have old frescoes include St.Antony’s Ferona church at Olloor, St.Marys Churches at Thrissur and Koratty, the oldSyrian Church at Kandamattom and the Paliyakkara church at Thiruvalla.

Ettumanoor temple murals

When you travel eleven Kilometres to the north of Kottayam town you will reach Ettumanoor and its centuries-old temple of Siva. The small town has all the noise and bustle of any small provincial town. But as one travels northwards on the main highway the ambience of the temple infuses a rare kind of peace.

Ettumanoor Temple is also a museum of rare and beautiful works of art and sculptures in wood and stone.

The late Ananda Coomaramaswami in “An introduction to Indian Art” (1913) had pointed out that the Nataraja paintings is the only extant specimen of the old Dravidian style of painting. “.. of Dravidian painting the only old example to which I can refer is the fine eight-armed Nataraja fresco of the Siva temple at Ettumnanoor in North Thiruvithamkur, but no systematic search for paintings has been made in the older parts and on the more neglected surfaces or Thiruvithamkur and other southern temples”. Stella Kramrisch the late art historian and art critic was quite poetic in her appraisal”. Like a gigantic butterfly caught in a stained glass window and transformed in to its luminosity is the shape of the dancing Siva”. Coomaraswami’s claim that the Ettumanoor murals are the earliest example of Dravidian mural art, stands disputed since the discovery of the paintings of chittanavasal and Kanchepuram (7 th Century)