Mattancheri had also been a former capital of the erstwhile rulers of Kochi. When the ‘adventurers from over the seas’ came to Kochi seeking trade, Mattancheri also bustled as a brisk trading port. First the Portuguese and later the Dutch beguiled the rulers with gold and gifts in exchange for spices, especially back pepper.

To please His Highness Veera Kerala Varma Thampuran (1537-61) the Portuguese built a palace, and also gifted him a gold crown. According to Huzur records, the palace was built and presented to the Kochi Raja in 1552 AD. With the coming of the Dutch in 1663 AD, the trade rivalries between them often led to bloody skirmishes. From contemporary literary works such as the poetry of Melpathoor Narayana Bhattathiripad as well as from the accounts of Father Bartolomeo, it is not difficult to get an idea about the Mattancheri court.

The palace originally built by the Portuguese had some extensions done by the Dutch. These were the porticos on the east and the south of the palace, and the decorated ceiling of the Coronation Room. Paradoxically, the name Dutch Palace somehow stuck to it, and still prevails.

The travel itinerary of any foreign visitor or tourist, especially if they are on a pilgrimage of art and culture, will definitely include a visit to the Mattancheri Palace. Architecturally, the palace is a synthesis of Portuguese, Dutch and native styles. The arched windows and the thick laterite and mortar walls are definitely European. While the total ambience created by the presence of a pool and three shrines – of Shiva, Vishnu and Pazhayannoor Bhagavati, the family deity of the Kochi rulers, is thoroughly indigenous.

Mattancheri is an artist’s delight, it is home to some very beautiful frescoes. The walls of some of the palace chambers are adorned with paintings done in the traditional mural style of Kerala. The late Amrita Sher Gill, the well known painter was greatly fascinated by these frescoes when she visited the Palace in 1937. In a letter to her sister, she was full of praise for these ‘perfectly marvelous old paintings’. She was surprised by the technique and the amazing knowledge of form and the power of observation of the painters. In her words, these frescoes are more powerful than the Ajanta frescoes, even though the latter are superior from the painting point of view.

Ramayana Murals

Walk into the chambers adjacent to the Coronation Room, to experience dramatic incidents from the Ramayana and Bhagavatham and a few major Hindu deities painted here to form a mural tapestry.

The room on the west of the Coronation Hall is generally presumed to have been the royal bed-chamber. The walls of this room, except the northern wall, are covered with frescoes, covering nearly 900 sq. feet of wall surface. Nearly all the fresco borders have a decorative border of textile designs.

One can easily pick out nearly sixty individual themes from the Ramayana. It is apparent that the Rama of the Mattancheri murals is the hero of Ezhuthachan’s Adhyatma Ramayana, regarded as the incarnation of Vishnu and not Valmiki’s ideal king of Ayodhya. This was obviously the outcome of the Bhakti movement that grew in the 16th century.

The paintings cover a wide variety of themes, from the Puthrakameshti Yajna, to Rama’s return to Ayodhya after vanquishing King Ravana of Lanka. The northern part of the eastern wall is crowded with scenes from the early chapters of the story of Rama. The bearded king Dasaratha is seen conferring with his minister Sumantra; the deer-headed sage Rishyashringa performing his Yajna, or ritual sacrifice, and Dasaratha handing out the divine ‘Prasadam’ to his consorts are the other main paintings here.

Besides these, the deliveries of the queens are also candidly portrayed. The figures are very stylized and display detailed and elaborate ornamentation. Among the three queens, only one figure is painted in golden hue – this is Kaikeyi, Dasaratha’s favorite queen, and ultimately, the cause of his undoing.

A picture on the southern end of the same wall shows the grief-stricken Dasaratha bidding a touching farewell to his sons Rama and Lakshmana, who are accompanying sage Vishwamitra to the forest. The encounter with the fearful demoness Taataka is also portrayed. Also a part of this collage of themes is the Seeta-Swayamvaram, and the encounter between Rama and Parasurama.

The southern wall comes dramatically alive with paintings showing Dasaratha deciding to make Rama, his eldest som, the heir-apparent to the throne, the journey across the river Ganges, Lakshmana disfiguring Soorpanakha, Ravana kidnapping Seeta from the forest, and the Bali – Sugriva battle. In the painting of Soorpanakha’s disfigurement, blood gushes from her chopped nose and bosom in a highly stylized manner – the oozing blood is paintes as red cord-like lines.

The western wall is filled with themes from the ‘Sundara-kanda’, showing the daring exploits of Hanuman. The journey to Lanka in search of Seeta, and the several adventures that befall him are very impressively presented. Rama is supposed to have fasted for three days to find a solution to get his army across to Lanka, over the turbulent waters. The most appealing picture here is surely the one of Rama lying on a bed of darbha-grass, his countenance weighted with a deep sense of helplessness and dismay. Rama’s decision to confront Varuna, the sea-god with his ‘Mantrastra’ puts back the motive of action into him. The corresponding picture shows Rama, now the picture of purpose and daring aiming his stringed arrow. The picture also has Lakshmana and a group of seven monkeys looking on with reverential awe.

The other paintings in this portion of the wall include that of building a bridge across to Lanka by the monkey troops, the fierce battle between Rama and Ravana, Seeta’s entry into fire to prove her chastity, and the return to Ayodhya.

The Rama – Ravana battle is a recurring theme in the mural art of Kerala. The fresco of Mattancherry, however, lacks force and verve when compared to frescoes on the same subject in temples like Aarpookkara (Kottayam) and Panayannarkavu. The Ramayana series usually ends with a painting of Rama’s coronation, but in the royal bed-chamber, this theme is conspicuous by its absence.

Most of the scenes or subjects present a gravity of purpose or convey the poignancy of situations. However, those of Hanuman shown escaping through the ears of the demoness Surasa, who intercepts his entry into Lanka, and the great travail of prodding awake the slumbering giant Kumbhakarna provide a kind of comic relief lightening the tension of the situation and adding to the drama. Sri Rama’s portrayal also deserves closer scrutiny. Rama’s spiritual power is pervasive. There is a quality of impassiveness and composure in him, despite the fact that he was a figure buffeted constantly by the vicissitudes of life. It seems to convey deeper meanings, the awareness of suffering as mere illusion or the Maya of Vedanta. Was the artist unconsciously led by Ezhuthachan’s version of the Ramayana? Is this an artist’s idea of Ezhuthachan’s ‘Kothanda-Rama’, Rama as a warrior?

When we view the frescoes of the bed chamber in totality, it seems to convey a sense of motion, as if a heavy tapestry was being rippled by a gentle breeze. Themes and figures are separated from one another either by segmented or beaded outlines; this form of ornamental separation is unique to the Kerala mural tradition. Besides giving a subtle form of relief to the pictures, it also seems to convey an impression of constant movement.

A major defect of these murals is the over-crowded effect they present. It appears as if the artist was in haste to utilize the maximum available space. The same theme is more forcefully painted in temples like Aarpookkara Subromania temple, and Panayannarkavu.

In the temples at Kaviyoor, Chathankulangara, and Poovappuzha (Pathanamthitta district), the Ramayana story is beautifully sculpted in wood. Wood sculptural art closely imitated the style and manner of the art of Kerala iconography. And when ultimately the Ramayana murals of Mattancheri are compared with the wood sculptures of the above mentioned temples, they are slightly inferior in representation. In the Mattancheri murals, there is an impression of realism when compared to the wood sculptures and reliefs which are always highly stylized.

Besides the Ramayana paintings there are a few other murals in this room. These include paintings of Ganapati-Pooja and Krishnalila. It is fairly apparent that these panels were later additions by some mediocre artist. So also the few paintings in the small staircase room.

[..contd.]

From the publication Murals Of Kerala by M G Shashibhooshan, Dept. Of Public Relations, Kerala State. Reproduced here without permission, please advice if this information may not be carried here.]

What makes this temple so special to the art lover, apart from the rare idol, are the exquisite paintings on the walls of the sanctum. Eight large panels and about twenty smaller ones feature episodes from the Hindu myths and the Puranas.

There’s a fine picture of Siva and Parvati sitting beneath the Kalpavriksha; a powerful picture of Durga vanquishing the buffalo-headed demon Mahisha; the pranks of Krishna, the divine boy of Ambadi; a picture of a Yakshi, the dangerous seductress of legends; Rama Pattabhishekam, or the coronation of Rama, Siva Tandava, and a picture of Sastha astride a horse, to point out but a few of the striking paintings of Pundareekapuram.

Since the temple is tucked away on a rarely-trodden village road, these paintings have for long remained relatively obscure. But these murals without doubt can hold their own against the better known wall-paintings of the Padmanabhapuram and Mattancheri palaces. In all probability, these murals were painted in the latter half of the 18^th century.

The paintings on the eastern and northern walls still look fresh in spite of the passage of the years. In contrast, the murals on the western wall and the two panels on the southern wall look faded and mouldy, probably because these two walls face much of the harshness of the monsoons.

A large panel on the northern wall has a dramatic picture of the vengeful and fiery-eyed Durga confronting the demon Mahisha. It is impressive not only by its sheer size (1.45 mts. by 1.65 mts.) but also for the force and fury that it seems to convey. A popular subject, the story of Mahisha Mardhini can be seen on the walls of several temples, for instance at Munnoottimangalam (Alapuzha), Chemanthitta (Thrissur), Aarpookkara (Kottayam), Morazha (Kannur) and Panayanarkkavu (Pathanamthitta). But in most of the above mentioned temples, it is not the battle that is illustrated but the picture of the triumphant Durga, standing on the severed head of Mahisha.

Near the Mahishasura Mardhini is a painting of a Yakshi. She is standing beneath a palmyra (Borassus Flabelli Formis) palm and every frond of the palm leaves is exquisitely worked out. In her hand she holds an oval shaped mirror, and it looks as if the Yakshi is giving the finishing touches to her make up.

The Yakshis, or Yakshinis, are generally considered to be the companions of the major goddesses. But legends also credit her with a dual personality – the enchanting seductress can turn into a blood-sucking vampire! The painters and sculptors of old, who inevitably drew inspiration from the dhyana-shlokas, portray her standing beneath palm-trees. This full-bosomed and dark haired beauty is the Circe of our groves who lures men to their doom.

The three false doors around the sanctum are filled with the antics of young Krishna – at his favorite pastime of stealing milk and butter; sucking the lifeblood out of the demoness Poothana, dancing on the hood of the serpent Kaliya, filching the garments of the gopis, and so on.

The last panel of the northern false door has a charming picture of Krishna playing the flute to an enraptured audience consisting of gopikas and the frolicking cattle of Vrindavan. Beast and man are lost in the magical notes flowing from the divine flute. The painting, which has fully captured the bliss and the peace of an idyllic pastoral life, also enwraps the onlooker with a rare kind of quiet.

The choice of colors shows a deliberate attempt to achieve a harmonious blending. The central figure, Krishna, is painted in dark green. The colors of the gopikas flanking him to the right and the left are light green and ochre respectively. Radha is apparently the fair figure in the group of three gopikas behind Krishna. It is true that Radha is not described as a fair beauty in the dhyana shlokas, but in the murals of Kerala, it is interesting to note that figures described as dark are often portrayed in light colors. The Vrindavan mural of Pundareekapuram bears a close resemblance to a mural on the same subject in the Padmanabhapuram palace. Apparently, both the muralists have relied on the same dhyana mantra.

Srirama Pattabhishekam, or the coronation of Srirama arrests our attention as we turn to the eastern wall. The king of Ayodhya wears his crown with benign grace. Sita, his consort, is seated to the left on the throne. The group of onlookers include rishis, the other princes of King Dasharatha, Hanuman, and the other main characters from the Ramayana.

The parrot-headed Suka and the deer-headed Rishyashringa, as well as Vasishta, Vamadeva and Kasyapa can be identified among the rishis. Lakshmana, Rama’s half brother and his constant shadow can also be picked out easily from the gathering on the smaller panel, which includes Bharata, Shatrughna, Sugreeva, Guha and Vibheeshana. Despite its relatively small size, this painting is as impressive as any of its counterparts in the Mattancheri or Padmanabhapuram palaces.

The most magnificent of the pictures at Pundareekapuram is on the northern and eastern walls of the sanctum. Astride a resplendent horse is Sastha, the God of hunting, along with a retinue of servants and dogs. The hurry and confusion of a chase is superbly conveyed. Many beasts of the forest have been ensnared in the open-net, bursting with snarling and clawing wild pigs, bears, leopards, etc.

Holding a bow, a broadsword at his side, and wearing an enigmatic smile, the divine hunter’s eyes bespeak his purpose. The horse is a very realistic representation, particularly when one remembers that horses were quite rare in Kerala in the ancient and medieval period. The white color of the horse is mixed with tawny shading, and particular care has been shown in embellishing it with a glittering jewel-studded bridle.

Many read a symbolic meaning into this picture. The dark forest is symbolic of the human mind, and the wild beasts that roam the forest are the vices in man – lust, anger, greed, etc. Sastha capturing the beasts of the forest is symbolic of the victory of the mind over the senses, leading to the right way of life, which in turn leads to moksha, salvation.

Undoubtedly, this mural will rank high if a list is drawn up of the ten best murals of Kerala. The bold lines and vivid colors, the exciting theme and its dramatic portrayal are some of the factors that contribute to its timeless beauty.

On the southern wall there is a large picture of the rotund-bellied and elephant-headed god Ganesha at his elaborate breakfast. The drawings of the attendants gives us an idea of the people of the artist’s contemporary world (the 18^th century), their mode of dressing and styling of their hair.

Though there is little relation among the murals, with each portraying a particular theme, there is a binding organic unity underlying the surface. This is achieved through the sense of the might and benevolence of the deities painted, coupled with the sense of awe and humility aroused in the devout worshipper. And this organic unity is a characteristic of the mural art of Kerala’s temples.

Another characteristic of the Pundareekapuram murals and of Kerala murals in general, is the boldness and accuracy of lines which gives a unique force to the paintings. Ochre-red, ochre-yellow, blue-black, parrot green, yellowish green, turquoise blue and white are the colors predominantly used in Pundareekapuram. And among these colors, ochre-red is the most dominant, and it seems to be the perfect complement to the pervasive green of the Kerala landscape.

The deity of Ettumanoor still inspires awe and fear in his devotees. This is Siva as Sarabha Moorti, his most fearsome, or Roudra form. This is the omnipotent power that can crush evil underfoot and at the same time grant favors to the faithful.

Ettumanoor temple is also a museum of rare and beautiful works of art and sculptures in wood and stone. The walls of the central shrine or sanctum are paneled with intricate and delicately carved wood. These panels form a kind of screen around the circular shrine. On the inner and outer walls of the western gopuram, or entrance tower, are the large sized paintings that have been acclaimed by artists and art critics alike, like Ananda Coomaraswamy, Stella Kramrisch, Fuku Akino and C Sivarama Murti. The most outstanding among the paintings is the mural of Siva as Nataraja. This is on the southern side of the inner wall face of the gopuram. The painting is quite large, measuring 360 cms in width and 217 cms in height. The dancing Siva is, of course, the focal center of the painting, and is enclosed within a circular outline. The dance depicted is that described as ‘Taalasamsphotita’ by Bharata Muni in the Natya Shastra.

Outside the circular band, to the left and right and also above it are several figures of rishis, gods, goddesses and other celestials. Everyone appears enthralled by the dance and the dancer. Their eyes bespeak their enjoyment and adoration.

To the right of the central figure, one can easily distinguish Mahavishnu playing the mizhavu (a large jar-shaped percussion instrument), Indra playing the flute, Brahma keeping rhythm with the cymbals, Kali on her vehicle Vetala, and young Ganapati and his mouse. On the left are the consorts of the trinity – Parvati, Saraswati and Lakshmi, all watching intently. Discernible also in the group are young Karthikeya on his peacock among several rishis with their hands raised in adoring worship. Nandi, the bull of Siva, is also on the left in his characteristic bovine posture, with his head cradled between the fore and hind legs. But he has an expression of ineffable bliss as he listens intently to the celestial gathering. Parvati, holding a lotus in her right hand, and Kali, on the ugly and unshapely demoness Vethala with her hands raised high in devout worship are the most impressive among the group of spectators.

What is remarkable is the adroitness of the painter in achieving a convergence in the lines of vision of the figures to a focal point, viz. the eyes of Siva himself, which in turn seem to be in communion with eternity. This is the most noteworthy feature of the mural.

Siva’s matted locks are strewn behind him and form a maze of radiating lines. Caught in the locks are flowers like the lotus and the champak, probably flung by the spectators, coiling serpents, and the four-armed and three-legged Bhringi.

The Siva of the mural is sixteen-armed, each hand holding either his traditional weapons, on held in a symbol of blessing. Under his left foot squirms the dwarfish demon, Apasmara, while his right leg is raised in dance. Apasmara in drawn holding on to the tail of a large hooded serpent. The hallmark of the painting is the sense of suppressed movement captured in each and every figure.

The late Ananda Coomaraswamy in An Introduction to Indian Art (1913) had pointed out that this Nataraja painting 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 eight-armed Nataraja fresco of the Siva temple at Ettumanoor in North Thiruvithamkur, but no systematic search for paintings has been made on the older parts and on the more neglected surfaces of Thiruvithamkur and other southern temples”. Stella Kramrisch, the late art historian and art critic was quite poetic in her appraisal – “like a giant butterfly caught in a stained glass window and transformed into its luminosity is the shape of the dancing Siva”. Coomaraswamy’s claim that the Ettumanoor murals are the earliest examples of Dravidian mural art stands disputed since the discovery of Chittanavasal and Kanchipuram (7th century).

Adjacent to the Nataraja mural is a painting of Siva as Aghora Murthy, his mot fearsome form. The fierce mien and the ash-smeared body, with garlands of snakes and skulls instills deadly fear in the beholder. He is represented with protruding teeth and rounded eyes, and is painted in a bluish-black hue. He is eight-armed, each hand either bearing a deadly weapon or a musical instrument, including the trident, a bow and an arrow, sword, an axe, a rattle-drum, a shield and a skull-bowl. His other ornaments include a garland of skulls beside snakes. The long garland of lotus buds forming a decorative border to the painting subdues the fierce aspect of the picture. In olden days, kings and warriors worshipped Aghora Siva before setting off on battle, to bring them victory.

On the northern wall of the western entrance is yet another large mural, perhaps the largest in Kerala, measuring 580 cms in length and 247 cms in height in which Lord Padmanabha reclines on his serpent attended by his consorts Shree Devi and Bhoodevi.

As in the other painting, here too is a gathering of celestials and rishis gazing with adoration at the Lord. The theme closely follows all the iconographical details exclusive to Kerala’s indigenous style of sculptural art and painting pertaining to the subject. Vishnu is shown dropping flowers on a Sivalinga with his right hand, even as he is resting on Anantha. And yet, this in no way establishes the superiority of Siva among the trinity, as he is also seen as a worshiper among the group of celestials near the head of Vishnu. The four-headed Brahma sits on a lotus that sprouts from Vishnu’s navel. Vishnu’s celestial vehicle and humble devotee, Garuda, stands with folded hands near the Lord’s feet. Shree Devi, Bhoodevi and Garuda appear unaware of anything except the Lord.

Smaller painted panels adorn the outer walls of the main entrance. They include the two Dwarapalakas, or the divine sentries, flanking the entrances, Krishna playing his flute, the Vastrapaharana and Sastha as a hunter on horseback. In the Vastrapaharana mural, Krishna is painted seated astride a lofty bough, playing on his reed. Four gopikas, the women of Vrindavan, are shown coming out of the river, imploring him to return their clothes that he had stolen from the river-bank while they were bathing. Another four are shown, who seem to have retrieved their clothing. Nowhere in Kerala has this theme been so sensually depicted.

Although there is no sound evidence, it is widely assumed that these murals were drawn as early as during the 16th century AD, based on Coomaraswamy’s observation that the temple was renovated during that period. But considering the various stylistic features, it is also possible to date these paintings to the late medieval period, i.e. the late 17th century or the early 18th century.

What stands today is only a retouched version of the original, as these murals were given a ‘face-lift’ around twenty-five years ago. This has, however, marred their ancient quaintness irretrievably. One has only to compare the copy of the Nataraja painting exhibited in the Sri Chitralayam, the Thiruvananthapuram Museum Art Gallery, with the retouched painting at the temple, and this becomes more than apparent. Something precious has been wiped off the retouched painting at the temple. Something vital, perhaps the aura of timelessness, has been retouched away.

[From the publication Murals Of Kerala by M G Shashibhooshan, Dept. Of Public Relations, Kerala State. Reproduced here without permission, please advice if this information may not be carried here.]

Until recently, esoteric tantric rituals were conducted in this Saktheya temple. From an allusion to this temple in the 14th century Malayalam epistolatory poem, ‘Unni Neeli Sandesam’, countless legends and stories sprang and gained credence, about the sacrifices and rituals practiced to invoke the blessings of the ferocious goddess. The poem mentions, in figurative language, the practice of sacrificing elephants to appease the goddess.

And even today, the goddess inspires fear and awe in the faithful. But as one walks into the temple and beholds the paintings around the shrines, the initial fear vanishes and a rare calm settles in. Familiar stories from the Puranas, in gentle and pleasant tones adorn the walls.

The shrine of the Sapta Matas is rectangular in structure. Murals are painted along all the available wall space. Probably these were done at the transitional phase of Vaishnavite influence on the Saktheya cult. Vaishnavism helped alleviate the fearsomeness of the tantric rituals once practiced here. However, the murals on the front wall of the shrine and also those around the square-shaped shrine of Siva were painted much later, presumably after the transition was complete. Like elsewhere, the subjects of the frescoes were inspired by stories and episodes from the Devi Mahatmyam, the Saiva and Vaishnava Puranas, and the Bhagavata.

Surely, the most fascinating among the paintings around the main shrine are those depicting the encounter between Durga and Mahisha, the buffalo-headed asura, and her subsequent victory. Siva’s terrible and awe-inspiring Aghora form; Kirata-Arjuniyam where Kirata – or Siva as hunter making naught of Arjuna’s skill and strength to humble the latter’s pride and then ultimately presenting him with his divine arrow, the Pasupatastra; the goddess Tripura Sundari in a rare form with ten arms and five heads, seated on a lotus; Ardhanariswara, the Dance of Siva, Vigneshwara Pooja, a picture of Sooryanarayana – a composite image of Vishnu and the sun, Sastha as a hunter, the gory end of Hiranyakashipu in the clutches of Vishnu as Narasimha, and the goddess Parvati on horse-back, riding side-saddle. There are also pictures of Krishna-leela, Subramanya, Bhadrakali, Annapoorna, Yogavishnu, Venugopalakrishna, Yakshi and the Draupadi Swayamvaram.

Mahisha Mardini Durga dominates the southern wall. The Sapta Matas are also picturised close by, as gazing intently at the fray. Each of them can be identified easily, each represented as seated on their special celestial vehicles. Brahmi is on a swan, Maheshwari rides a bull, Kaumari is on a peacock, while Vaishnavi rides Garuda. Boar-headed Varahi has a lion and Indrani sits majestically atop an elephant; Chamundi has her own strange vehicle – the Vetala, neither animal nor human. This hideous mythical creature is also associated with Kali.

The mural of Sooryanarayana is a fairly rare subject in temple frescoes. Statuesque and serene, the god sits cross-legged on a lotus in a chariot pulled by seven horses and ridden by Arjuna, the sun’s charioteer. The sun’s spreading rays are painted as swift shafts strung from the bows of the two small figures on either side of the main figure. The image of the sun dwarfs all the other objects in the painting suggestive perhaps of the omnipresent and omniscient power of the sun. This fresco is far more beautiful in color and composition than the murals on the same subject in the Tali temple at Kottayam or the Triprangode Siva temple in Malappuram.

Even though the murals around the Siva temple belong to a later date, many of these frescoes can be ranked among the finest of their kind elsewhere. On the eastern wall are a few frescoes depicting dramatic moments from the Ramayana. These are doubtless the best murals in the temple.

The battle between Rama and Ravana, the fall of the great king of Lanka, his queen’s lament over his death, the reunion of Rama and Sita, and lastly, Rama’s coronation as the king of Ayodhya, these are the group of the Ramayana murals. Though there are innumerable frescoes portraying these subjects in various temples and palaces in Kerala, nowhere else is it so brilliantly and beautifully done. One has only to compare these frescoes with the Ramayana frescoes, say at Mattancherry, to get an idea of the remarkable beauty of these murals. The group of mourners, led by Queen Mandodari ‘looking like the goddess of grief incarnate’, is one of the most life-like paintings in the panel. In the picture showing the reunion of Rama and Sita after the capture of Lanka, the artist has captured the moment of ineffable happiness, which is beyond excitement or tears. But the face of Lakshmana mirrors his great joy and relief unmistakably.

Ravana’s fall is a remarkably composed frame. Though Ravana has seemed invincible with his ten heads, twenty arms, and numerous weapons, Rama’s arrows never strayed from their target. This painting has captured the action of the mighty duel and the moment of the defeat and the fall of the king of Lanka with a sure touch of drama.

Other paintings include pictures of Mahavishnu seated with his two consorts Lakshmi and Bhoomidevi in Vaikuntha, Anantasayana Vishnu, Vishnu Maya playing with a ball, Durga after the destruction of Mahisha, the mischievous antics of the young Krishna, Ganesha Pooja, Narasimha, Parvati in bridal attire, and pictures of Siva as Nataraja, Daskhinamurthy or the Lord of Knowledge, and Kalasamharamoorthy or the destroyer of Yama.

The murals of Panayannarkavu are notable for their linear accuracy, and agreeable color combinations. It is a little difficult to date these paintings, but we can presume that these frescoes were done in two phases. The murals around the small rectangular chief shrine were in all probability the earliest paintings. The paintings on the square shrine were completed later, presumably during the closing years of the reign of the King of Chirava, a branch of the Odanadu royal house. Historically, it was during this time that the Vaishnava cult assimilated Sakti worship to effect a more colorful ritualistic pattern.

Near the old temple of Krishna from which the area got its name, is an old but well-kept palace. Though much smaller in size than Padmanabhapuram palace, this is a much more typical example of Kerala’s architectural style. This palace was constructed in the reign of King Marthanda Varma who annexed Kayamkulam to Thiruvithamcode in 1746 AD.

The double-storeyed palace incorporates the salient features of Kerala’s architectural individuality. The rooms branch out from several courtyards. Dormer windows and narrow passage-ways are among the other characteristic features. Wood is used with abandon as in all other old palaces of Kerala.

This palace also contains one of the largest mural panels in Kerala. The famed Gajendra Moksha mural that measures fourteen feet by eleven feet is on the ground floor of the palace on the west, from where one can walk down to the palace pool.

The Bhagavata describes Gajendra Moksha as one of the most important exploits of Lord Vishnu. A great devotee of Vishnu, King Indradyumna, was cursed by the sage Agastya to be reborn as an elephant. The sage’s words proved true and Indradyumna was reborn as Gajendra, or the king of elephants. One day, as he stepped into a lake to drink his fill, he was caught by a crocodile. Though he fought with all his might to shake it off, the crocodile only tightened itsgrp. The legend goes that Gajendra remained thus for many years. Finally in great despair, he cried out piteously to the Lord to help him. Hearing his entreaties, Vishnu descended expeditiously from heaven on the back of Garuda, his celestial transport.

This is the dramatic moment that has been immortalized in Krishnapuram palace. Garuda’s wings fanned out in flight dominate the panel. This mythical bird with human attributes carries his divine master with great devotion. At the same time, their expressions are a study in contrast. If Garuda’s eyes smoulder with rage at the stubbornness of the crocodile, Vishnu’s countenance is filled with mercy and compassion as he puts an end to the agony of Gajendra by killing the crocodile.

The mural also depicts several celestial beings including rishis, birds, beasts and goblins of the forest hailing the Lord. Adjacent to the main subject, on the top right corner of the panel, is a picture of Vishnu seated in Vaikuntha surrounded by celestials. Constrained by lack of space perhaps, the picture of the crocodile lacks conviction. A line of female figures worshipping Balakrishna form a border panel at the bottom. These female figures, like those of the later paintings of Panayannar Kavu, display a post-Vijayanagara or Nayak influence.

The lines of this wall painting are comparatively weak. But t is noteworthy for its composition, which seems to incorporate the hallmarks of good art. The painting has linear rhythm, a harmony in the choice of colours, a certain proportion and balance in perspective. But what holds our attention more are the angular convergence of the lines of vision of Vishnu, Gajendra, the crocodile, and Garuda. Among the colours used, ochre, red, and blue-green predominate over white, black, green, and red.
Gajendra Moksha was a favourite theme of Indian sculptors and artists. Excellent sculptures on the theme with minor deviations are to be found at Barhhut and Deogarh (Uttar Pradesh) and at the three Pattadakkal temples of Karnataka.

In Kerala, this theme appears as the subject of frescoes in the temples of Karat (Kozhikode), Shornoor, Vaniyankulam (Palakkad), Kidangoor (Kottayam), and Kadumon (Kollam). But as works of art, the wood sculptures at Kaviyoor and Chathankulangara are superior.

The popularity of this theme was probably due to the great emotional appeal of the story. When any devotee in distress turns to the Lord for help, he will surely be rewarded. It also brought home succinctly the fact that faith in God was stronger and greater than physical strength.

[From the publication Murals Of Kerala by M G Shashibhooshan, Dept. Of Public Relations, Kerala State. Reproduced here without permission, please advice if this information may not be carried here.]

This magnificent palace is also a splendid example of native architecture at its best. And it has used the plenitude and excellence of Kerala wood. If one wishes to experience the grandeur of carved wood, Padmanabhapuram is just the place.

Padmanabhapuram, now in the Kanyakumari district of Tamilnadu is about 65 kms to the south of Thiruvananthapuram. A slight detour from the national highway running through Thiruvananthapuram and Nagercoil will bring you to this old palace enclosed within the four-kilometer perimeter of a huge granite wall. The reign of Marthanda Varma (1729-58), the most powerful of the Thiruvithamkur kings, was also the most glorious period in Padmanabhapuram’s history. It was Marthanda Varma, the maker of modern Thiruvithamkur, who gave the palace and its surroundings the present name of Padmanabhapuram, or the Abode of Padmanabha. This was around 1744, before which the place was known as Kalkulam.

The construction of the palace is typical of the native architectural idiom except for the protruding balcony in the northern wing and the clock tower near the main entrance. The tiled saddle-backed roofs with triangular gables ensconcing carved wooden screens, latticed wooden windows, cool and ventilated rooms and corridors, black floors polished to a glistening smoothness, pillars of beautifully carved wood, intricately carved wooden beams and wall panels, steep, narrow staircases – all of these add to the quaint charm of Padmanabhapuram.

The Thai Kottaram, or Mother Palace, is almost central to the complex. Near this wing is the three-storeyed Upparikamalika, the tallest of the structures here. On the top floor is a rectangular chamber, the walls of which are enriched by well-preserved murals. This chamber was designed for meditation and retreat of the king and the heir-apparent.

The fine wood carving of the four poster bed in this room is a synthesis of Indian and Western motifs. Two lamps burn permanently in this room. The bed is believed to be hallowed by the divine presence of Anantha Sayana Padmanabha, the Thiruvithamkur royal family’s chief deity of worship. The several doors of this room open out into a very narrow balcony, which is enclosed by wooden ventilated panels with dormer windows.

Murals decorate the inner walls of the room. These paintings depict gods and goddesses of the Hindu pantheon and are intended to create a congenial atmosphere for meditation.

On the western and eastern walls, the two paintings of Anantha Padmanabha form the central theme. And both these paintings were held in reverence since they were believed to be sanctified by the presence of the particular deity. The mural on the eastern wall is only a re-painting of the original which was destroyed when the wall was struck by lightning sometime in the past.

The lines of the painting conform to all the specifications desired by the verses sung to invoke the deity. The Lord reclines on the serpent Anantha, attended by his consort Sridevi, and surrounded by several Rishis and numerous celestials including the other important gods and goddesses of the Hindu pantheon. And idol of Siva Linga is pictured near Vishnu’s right hand from which he drops flower offerings.

The mural on the eastern wall measures 224-cms by 152-cms. One feature that sets this mural apart from others of the same theme elsewhere is its capacity for creating a three-dimensional illusion. On the top right and left hand corners of the panel are paintings of the Sun and the Moon personified as gods. The Sun is personified as Soorya Narayana sitting on a lotus, engulfed in his own iridescence. The Soorya Narayana is painted in golden yellow colour, while the Moon is painted in white. They are shown worshiped by sages and celestials and are in turn worshipers of the Supreme Being. At the bottom of the panel are two Dwarapalakas flanking the deity. As we turn to the northern wall paintings of the ‘Dasa Avatara’, the ten incarnations, of Lord Vishnu, and the Saiva celestials, the eleven forms of Rudra can be distinguished easily. Apart from these, there are paintings of Siva Tandava, Ganesha Pooja, Vettakkorumakan, Krishna as Parthasarathy, or Arjuna’s charioteer, the Master of masters – Veda Vyasa, Sankara Narayana – a composite of Saiva and Vaishnava energies, Mahisha Mardhini Durga, Dakshinamoorthy or Siva as the interpreter of the Supreme Truth, Siva as Bhairava, a painting of Sastha as a hunter on horseback, Krishna being showered with pots of jewels, Vishnu with his two consorts in Vaikuntha and a picture of Siva accepting the hand of Parvati.

The central theme of the eastern wall is a repainted version, as mentioned earlier. Palace records show that an Iranian mural painter Saris Katchadourian was commissioned to repaint the mural in the early forties of this century. In this painting, at the bottom-middle portion, there is a small painting of Vishnu flanked by his consorts, bearing a close resemblance to icons. The wall also includes paintings depicting Krishna-leela, or the antics of Krishna; Balakrishna confronting Kamsa’a murderous envoys like the demoness Poothana and the asura Baka, who came disguised as a huge bird, Krishna dancing on the hood of Kaliyan after vanquishing it, Krishna as Damodara giving salvation to two celestials who were turned into trees.

The most beautiful painting on the southern wall is the picture of Krishna playing the flute to an entranced audience of gopikas in the woods of Vrindavan. While this is an oft painted subject, this particular painting can also be ranked among the finest murals of the typical Kerala style. Krishna stands with crossed feet playing his flute surrounded by an enraptured audience that consists of gopikas, cows and the birds and beasts of Vrindavan. The entire subject is contained in a frame 128 cms by 100 cms. The mural stands out by virtue of its harmony in the application of colours. Green, white, ochre, golden yellow and dark blue blend and match with each other. Another remarkable feature is the converging effect of the lines of vision of the gopikas and Krishna, the central figure. Yet another noteworthy mural on this wall is that of the coronation of Rama.

Other paintings include a painting of Subramanya, Siva in his Ardhanariswara form – half male and half female, Vishnu’s main weapon – the Sudarshana Chakra personified as a human being, Vishnu holding Mahalakshmi, a couple of pictures of Vishnu with his consorts, Rama’s Veera Raghava – the personification of courage and daring, Bhadra Kali, a Siva Linga and the Siva family, a picture of Narasimha in a yogic stance, Siva with Parvati, and twelve Vishnu Purushas.

One can easily distinguish three individual styles in the wall paintings of Padmanabhapuram. Most of the paintings on the upper halves of the walls and on the western wall were done by a master-artist, while a large part of the lower halves were filled by a lesser artist. The entire re-paintings on the eastern wall were done by another person, whose style reveals a marked post-Vijayanagara influence.

It is not incorrect to assume that the murals except those on the eastern wall were painted during Marthanda Varma’s occupation of the palace. The style in general resembles the original paintings of the Padmanabha Swami temple of Thiruvananthapuram. The elongation of the face and body of the figures, pouting lips, and sharp aquiline noses are the salient features of this style. Above everything else, what radiates through these pictures is the absolute reverence of the Thiruvithamkur royal family to Vaishnavism.

[From the publication Murals Of Kerala by M G Shashibhooshan, Dept. Of Public Relations, Kerala State. Reproduced here without permission, please advice if this information may not be carried here.]

The Cheras ruled in Kerala in the third century BCE. They seemed to have been the most prominent kingdom here until the sixth century CE. The Chalukyas of Badami are reported to have conquered north Kerala during the sixth and seventh centuries. The Pallavas attacked and defeated them from the west in the sixth and seventh centuries, the Pandyas in the seventh and the Rashtrakutas in the eighth century. Under the Kulashekharas of Mahodayapuram (AD 800 – 1102), foreign attacks seem to have ended, to be renewed again under the Cholas in the tenth century, when parts of Kerala were annexed to the Chola empire. Besides the Kulashekharas, the Kolathiris of Kolathund and the Zamorins of Calicut rose in the thirteenth century and the Perumpadappu Swarupams of Cochin in the sixteenth century. The Vijayanagara kingdom invaded Kerala, annexing some parts of it. The Nayakas of Madura attacked it in the seventeenth century. Kerala however, became powerful during the rule of Martanda Varma (1729 – 1758) and Kartika Thirunal Rama Varma (1758 – 1798). The former expanded the state and the latter preserved it during the Mysorean invasion.

Kerala is a very interesting mix of religious influences. In the beginning, tribal gods and goddesses were worshiped, including the Goddess Kottavai, a war goddess. Jainism, Buddhism, and classical Hinduism prevailed here from very early times. The last became predominant during the Sangam age and after the revivalist movement of Sankaracharya (AD 788 – 820). The Bhakti movement produced several poets like Kulashekhara Alvar, Cherumal Perumal Naynar, Tunchat Ezhuthachan who wrote the Adhyatma Ramayanam, Mahabharatam & the Harinama Kirtanam, and Poonthanam Namboothiri, who wrote the Shri Krishna Kamamritam, Santanagopalam & the Jnanapaana. They encouraged and inspired the art of temple building and wall painting. Christianity arrived in AD 52, the Jews in AD 68 and Islam with the Arabs and under Tipu Sultan.

Social life in Kerala was marked by a high degree of gender equality. Although most ruling houses were patriarchal, a large body of Nairs, the warrior arm of Kerala, followed a matrilineal inheritance system, and there are several cases of queens ruling in Kerala. There was great respect for learning, and the opening of schools attached to temples and mathas was stressed.

The rich tradition of Kerala wall painting was made possible by a strong economic resource base. The Greeks, the Romans, the Phoenicians, and the Persians traded in spices taken from Kerala. Arab trade was to assume great importance, especially in the economy of the Malabar coast, beginning from the eighth century onward. They enriched the Zamorins of Calicut, even manned their navy, and supplied horses to Vijayanagara. Quilon, and later on, Calicut, were important centers of trade with China. Marco Polo mentions trade between China and Kerala. Ibn Batuta (AD 1342 – 1347?) also refers to the prosperity of Calicut and the existence of merchants there from all parts of the world. He further states that men from China, Sumatra, the Maldives, Ceylon, Yemen and Fars visited there. The accounts of Abdur Razzak, who visited Kerala in 1343, and Nicolo Conti, who went there in 1444, also refer to the rich pepper trade of Kerala.

The Portuguese, who came at the end of the 15th century, and the Dutch and the British in the mid 15th century and the mid 17th century, prospered greatly with the spice trade annd also brought prosperity to Kerala. The development of ports during the various periods of Kerala’s history shows its economic and trading contacts. While in the earlier centuries of the Christian era, Muziris, Tendis, Nelcynda are mentioned, Naiva acquired importance during the Chola period, along with Vakal and Pantar. During the medieval and middle period, Quilon, Calicut, Cranganore and Cochin rose to great prominence as centers for trade with the Arabs, the Chinese, the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the British.

Kerala’s ancient and extensive spice trade ensured a strong economic resource base, which led to the development of temple architecture on a large scale and made possible its rich wall painting tradition. The cave temples came first, of which only Tirumandikkarai, contemporary with the Pandya caves, contains the remains of wall paintings. Massive structural temples were built from the time of the first phase of Kulashekhara rule from the ninth to the eleventh century, and continue to be built even today. They are Dravidian in style, with large sculptures, and many of the outside walls of the garbhagrihas have paintings. Sivaramamurti believed that the wall painting tradition started in the sixteenth century, while the archaeologist H Sarkar dates the paintings to 1691, when the Pallimanna temple was built.

Reproduced without permission from Indian Painting: The Great Mural Tradition, by Mira Seth.

To represent Satvic quality, green and shades of green were used. Characters of the Rajasic quality were portrayed in red or golden, and the Tamasic nature of the gods were represented not by black but in white, while demons and demonesses were represented by black.

Among the subjects, Vishnu and his Satvic incarnations, Parvati, Sridevi, Arjuna, pious beings like Prahlada and Markandeya were always painted in green. Bhoodevi (Goddess Earth), Ganga, Ganesa, and the four-headed Brahma were [typically] painted in red. Vishnu was [also] painted in different colors according to his attributes.

It is true that the figures of the murals have the external likeness of men and women; but the divine, or the supra-human aspect is also obvious in [virtually] every detail. The creators of these pictures had no doubt undergone rigorous mental disciplines, or sadhana.

They had the creative skill to fill every available space with as many details as possible, and also the skill to pinpoint one or two essential details and leave the rest to our imagination. The painting in the Mattancherry palace of Krishna holding the Govardhana aloft for example, is a typical example in which minute details of the wooded mountain are elaborately depicted. This tendency to detailed elaboration is also a characteristic feature of the Koodiyattom, the ancient temple theatre of Kerala. Another later, but frequent characteristic of the murals of Kerala are the beaded or decorative outlines, not only around each panel but also around individual figures.

During the 15th and the 16th centuries, when the Bhakti movement swept through Kerala, many were the excellent murals that were painted. It is also highly probable that the leading names of the movement like the eighteen and a half poets of the Zamorin’s court, Ezhutachan, Melpathoor, Poonthanam, and the venerable sage Vilvamangalam could have been instrumental in reviving this popular tradition of religious art.

The decay of this tradition that started in the late 18th century, gained momentum with the Mysore invasion of Malabar (1766-82) and the take-over of the Travancore temple trusts by the then British Resident (1811). The final blow came when the portrait style of painting of Raja Ravi Varma (1848 – 1906) gained fame and popularity.

The frescoes of Kerala belong to a class known as ‘fresco-seco’, characterized by its lime-medium technique. The frescoes of Kerala, like those of Kancheepuram and Sittanavasal belong to this variety. Here, the murals are painted only after the prepared wall is completely dry. There is another category of murals called the ‘fresco-buona’, in which the color pigments are applied on a partially wet plaster ground.

Vishnu Dharmottara Purana (4th or 5th century A.D.), Abhilashitartha Chintamani (12th century A.D.) and Silparatna (16th century A.D.) are the three principal texts dealing with Indian painting techniques. These three tests are agreed to a large extent on the four different phases for the completion of a wall painting:

1. Preparation of the ground
2. Sketching the outline
3. Application of colors, and lastly
4. Addition of decorative details.

The ‘Chitralakshana’ section of Srikumara’s Silparatna had a direct bearing on the style and techniques of Kerala murals. This section dwells at length on the various aspects of painting like its definition, suitable themes, the preparation and application of plaster on the wall, the names of primary colors, how to prepare the plastered surface, how to sketch the outlines, the preparation of pigments and brushes, how to picturise the frontal and dorsal stances of figures and so on.

The Silparatna’s injunction that a picture should be painted in appropriate colors along with proper forms and sentiments, or rasas and moods, or bhavas and actions seems to have been the working guidelines for Kerala murals.

White, yellow, red, black, and terreverte or Syama are mentioned in the Silparatna as pure colors. Besides, the different shades of these colors were also used. Ochre-red, ochre-yellow, white, bluish-green and pure green are the most common colors found in Kerala murals. We also come across golden-yellow, brown, yellowish-green, greenish-blue and sky-blue.

Color dyes were prepared from vegetable and mineral pigments as well as crude chemicals. These were extracted using simple methods. White was extracted from lime, black was the deposit of carbon soot of lamps, red and yellow dyes were generally extracts from minerals, blue was obtained from plants like Indigo Ferra, locally known as neel-amari, and green was prepared from a mineral known as eravikkara. Some ancient palm leaf manuscripts on painting mentions the use of chemicals like arsenic (Realgar) and vermillion (Red Lead) in the preparation of yellow and red dyes. The juice of lac was also used for making a deep red color. They also mention the application of lemon juice or copper sulphate solution over the ground for softening the alkali of like, before the application of colors. The colors were mixed in wooden utensils. The water of tender coconuts and gum-exudates were used as binding media. After the paintings were done, they were brushed over with a mixture of pine-resin and oil, which imparted sheen and strength to the pictures. Brushes made of feathers, or the fine roots of the Pandanus were used to apply this resin-oil mixture.

The Silparatna also describes the different types of brushes to be used. Mainly three types, like flat, medium, and fine, made from animal hair and grass fibres were used. Flat and medium brushes were made from the hair from the ears of calves, and the underside of the bellies of goats respectively. Fine tipped brushes were made either from the thin hair of the tails of muskrats, or grass tips.

The Silparatna advises the use of nine brushes, including three of each type, for applying the different shades of one color. Outlines were sketched not with brushes, but with dung crayons. The crayon outlines were run over on the outside, first with ochre-yellow and then with ochre-red.

The text also instructs the artists in the drawing of human figures. It describes the five main stances to be adopted in drawing figures, viz. frontal, half-frontal, askance, one and a quarter eyed, and profile, in great detail, which must have been extremely useful to artists. Dr Paramasivan, a famous archaeological chemist of India, has done valuable research in the techniques of Indian murals. It is he who classified the murals of Kerala in the Fresco-Secco category.

[From the publication Murals Of Kerala by M G Shashibhooshan, Dept. Of Public Relations, Kerala State. Reproduced here without permission, please advice if this information may not be carried here.]

It is not difficult to trace the roots of the Kerala mural styles to the more ancient Dravidian art of Kalamezhuthu. This was a much more fully developed art form connected with religious rituals. It was [is] a ritual art of sprinkling and filling up different colored powders inside outlines sketched with the powder.

The roots of the extant mural tradition of Kerala could be traced as far back as the 7^th and 8^th century AD. It is not unlikely that the early Kerala murals along with its architecture came heavily under the influence of Pallava art. The oldest murals in Kerala were discovered in the rock-cut cave temple of Thirunandikkara, which is now in the Kanyakumari district of Tamilnadu.

The hall of the cave must have once been richly decorated with paintings. However, at present, only sketchy outlines have survived the passage of [the] years. The paintings that were here, were, in all probability, executed in the 9^th or the 10^th century A.D. Apart from this, there are no other paintings that can be dated to the period between the 9^th and the 13^th century A.D. however, a 10^th century inscription of Goda Ravi Varman found in the Cheruthuruthy Tali temple in Thrissur district mentions the wages that were paid to mural painters.

A Portuguese traveler, Castaneda, who had accompanied Vasco da Gama on his voyages to India, when landed at Kappad, near Kozhikode in 1498 A.D. has recorded his and his friend’s experience of walking into a Hindu temple under the mistaken notion that it was a native church. On entering, they noticed ‘monstrous looking images’, some of which had four arms, painted on the walls. To the travelers, the images looked like the pictures of devils, which raised doubts among them whether they were actually in a Christian church. In all probability, the navigators must have gone into a Bhagavati temple that was situated somewhere between Kappad and Kozhikode.

Archaeological evidences point to the period from the mid-sixteenth century onwards as the most prolific period of mural art in Kerala. Srikumara’s ‘Silparatna’, a sixteenth century Sanskrit text on painting and related subjects must have been enormously useful to contemporary and later artists. This treatise has been acclaimed as a rare work on the techniques of Indian art, the likes of which has not been published before or after. It discusses all aspects of painting, aesthetic as well as technical and is greatly useful in understanding the later medieval murals of Kerala.

The subjects for murals were derived from religious texts. Palace and temple murals were peopled with highly stylized pictures of gods and goddesses of the Hindu pantheon. It was not a fanciful representation but drawn from the descriptions in the invocatory verses or ‘dhyana shlokas’. Flora, fauna and other aspects of Nature were also pictured as backdrops in highly stylized techniques.

The murals of Kanthaloor temple in Thiruvananthapuram district (13^th century AD) and those at Pisharikavu and Kaliampalli in Kozhikode district (14^th century) are the oldest extant temple frescoes of Kerala. Representing the prolific period of mural art, viz. the period between the 14^th and 16^th century A.D. are the Ramayana murals of Mattancherry Palace and the paintings in temples like the Thrissur Vadakkumnathan temple, Chemmanthitta Siva temple and those at Kudamaloor and Thodeekkalam in Kannur district. They represent a latter phase in the evolution of the medieval mural tradition. Likewise, the wall paintings at Panayannar Kavu, Thrichakrapuram, Kottakkal, as well as those in Padmanabhapuram and Krishnapuram palaces and those in the inner chambers and the lower floor of the Mattancherry palace, represent a much later period in the evolution of the medieval mural tradition.

[From the publication Murals Of Kerala by M G Shashibhooshan, Dept. Of Public Relations, Kerala State. Reproduced here without permission, please advice if this information may not be carried here.]