Art on the walls
SUGANTHY KRISHNAMACHARI
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K.U. Krishnakumar, principal of the Institute of Mural Painting in Guruvayoor, talks about this unique art form.
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Paintings
“In Kerala, to some extent, art kept religious dissensions at bay,” says mural artist K.U. Krishnakumar. “For example, at a Siva temple in Thrissur, you see mural paintings with Vaishnavite themes. Similarly, at a Vishnu temple in Guruvayoor, there are scenes from Siva Puranam.”
“In 1970, a fire damaged the murals at the Guruvayoor temple. When the temple authorities tried to get them fixed, they found there were very few mural artists left, with whose help the paintings were restored. But the Devaswom felt more people had to be trained in the art. So in 1989, with help from the Kerala Government, the Devaswom started the Institute of Mural Painting. Here, a five-year diploma in Fine Arts is offered, of which two years are dedicated to Kerala mural painting.”
Krishnakumar, who belonged to the first batch of students, is now the principal of the Institute. His guru was Mammiyoor Krishnan Kutty Nair. “One of the earliest murals in South India is seen in the Tirunandikkarai temple in Kanyakumari district, dating back to the 8th century,” says Krishnakumar. “The period between the 14th to 16th centuries is said to be the golden era of mural painting in Kerala. In fact, critics such as Stella Kramrisch, Ananda Coomaraswamy and Sivarama Murthy have marvelled at Kerala murals.”
Five layers
The architecture in Kerala temples follows the ‘panchamala’ pattern. The mandapam of the sanctum sanctorum, or the Sreekovil as it is called, has five layers. The first layer is the Bhoothamala, with carvings of ogres and demons. It also shows human beings engaged in daily activities. The mrigamala shows animals foraging for food, fighting with each other, mating and tending to their young. The pakshimala is a depiction of birds, and the vanamala has scenes of the forest. Below these four layers, and between the carved wooden pillars, is the space that is covered by mural paintings — Chitramala.
Talking about the process involved, Krishnakumar explains that the walls have to be first prepared before one does the murals. The walls are given a rough plastering with a mixture of lime and sand, the juice of kadukkai or the juice of a creeper called chunnambuvelli and dissolved jaggery. Then a smooth plaster is applied. The ingredients are the same as in the case of the rough plaster, except that at this stage, cotton is ground together with the other ingredients. After 10 days, 25 to 30 coats of a mixture of quicklime and tender coconut water are applied.
The themes
The method of Kerala mural painting is described in Narayanan’s Tantrasamuchaya (15th century) and Sreekumaran’s Silparatna (16th century). “The themes aren’t always religious,” he explains. “Sometimes, there are scenes from Kalidasa’s Abhignyana Sakuntalam.”
MURAL MAGIC: Krishnakumar
“There are temples with mural paintings in almost every district of Kerala,” Krishnakumar says. He has done mural paintings for the Thiruvananthapuram museum and the Indian Navy at Cochin. “Murals can be seen in churches and palaces too. In the palaces at Padmanabhapuram, Krishnapuram, Kayangulam and in the Dutch palace at Mattanchery, one can find exquisite murals. In churches, the themes are exclusively Christian. You can see murals in the churches at Velur, Kanjur, Angamali, Koraty, Ollur, Pazhanji, Akapparambu, Kothamangalam and Kottayam.”
Kerala mural painting started as temple art, but took a secular route, showing that art, like music, is a unifying force.
The colour palette
Krishnakumar explains how the colours are prepared. Five basic colours are used in mural painting — white, yellow, red, green, and black. For yellow and red, stones such as laterite are ground and the powder is cleaned to remove impurities. The pigment residue is collected and dried.
For green, the leaves of neela amari are dried and powdered. This powder is bluish in colour. Eruvikkara is a herb whose leaves are crushed to get yellow powder. The blue neela amari powder is mixed with the yellow Eruvikkara to get green, the proportion of the two powders being varied to get different shades.
He says, “I wonder if you’ve noticed. While in most places Rama and Krishna are painted in blue, in Kerala most often, they are in green. I suppose it is because we are surrounded by so much greenery in our state, that green is a colour we can relate to easily!”
On to how they get black colour, he says, “Wicks are immersed in sesame oil, and then lit. The smoke is collected on the inside of a mud pot. The smoke is then carefully scraped out and used where black colour is needed. Brushes of different sizes are made of grass.”
The outline is drawn in yellow, and then again in red. The colours are then filled in. Once the painting is finished, the outline is done again in black.
S.K.
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