Chapter4 K¤À¸a Episodes in Kerala Mural Tradition Mural paintings originated from Ka½amezhuttu, a ritual art in which pictures were drawn on the floor with colour powder for worship. Kerala has a peculiar place with a host of ancient Indian mythological episodes. The stories of the mythology are extensively used in Kerala mural walls. There is a treasure of historically important murals in the temples, palaces, churches as the centres in mural paintings of Kerala. The pictures in Chera cave temples belonging to 8th C.E.to 10th C.E. Thirunandikkara in Tamil Nadu are considered as the primitive examples from the Kerala murals. Most of the murals found in Kerala belong to 15th to 19th C.E. It has been observed that there are 150 to 200 conventions to the traditional ancient mural centres are in Kerala. The narrative style visualisation and colour sense makes Kerala murals, different and varied from other paintings. The painting of K¤À¸a is a much discussed topic by many scholars. Still it seems that there is something left behind undisguised. Even though it seems like there remains something yet to be explored. K¤À¸a is one of the important characters seen in Kerala murals. It is easy to find out K¤À¸a among other mural characters due to the technique of singleness and simplicity with which it is drawn. The K¤À¸a episodes can be seen in the epics and Pur¡¸as. The concept of K¤À¸a had a great influence on the poets and painters even centuries before. Not only in Kerala but also at some other states of India, K¤À¸a’s influence is much high. Epics and Pur¡¸as are the radiant reflection of human life itself. The way it goes through the psychological and social life of a man knowingly or unknowingly remains a wonder to modern writers. K¤À¸a one of the characters has a great influence on human mind. The range of Indian mythology is vast, K¤À¸a as an incarnation of ViÀ¸u is associated with birth and death. K¤À¸a stands as an idol of Indian consciousness. The Madhubani painting is found as illustrating the dark K¤À¸a with fair R¡dha. In order to portray his happiness artists fills the space with beautiful foliage and flowers. The dramatic incidents happened in K¤À¸a’s life inspires the artist a lot and is portrayed all over India. The Da¿¡vat¡ra can be found in murals as well as in sculptures in the temples of Kerala. The U¸¸un¢lisande¿a, a stotrak¡vya in Malayalam is also explains the different incarnations of ViÀ¸u.1 Classical texts like N¡r¡ya¸¢ya (Melpatt£r N¡r¡ya¸a Bha¶¶atiri), G¢tagovinda (Jayadeva), ViÀ¸uke¿¡dip¡dastotram (áa´kar¡c¡rya), ár¢ K¤À¸akar¸¡m¤ta (L¢l¡¿uka), K¤À¸ag¡tha (Ceru¿¿eri), etc. also illustrate the stories of Da¿¡vat¡ra. Specific colours are used for depicting the ten incarnations. Matsya (gold), K£rma (dark),Var¡ha (dark blue), Narasimha (white), V¡mana (gold), Para¿ur¡ma (gold), ár¢r¡ma (green), Balar¡ma (white), ár¢k¤À¸a (greenish blue) and Kalkki (red). The Tradition of Kerala Mural Painting Generally murals are drawn in the outer walls of the sanctum sanctorum (¿r¢kovil) and also on the gopura of the surrounding wall of the temple. It is also on the Christian churches murals seen in the two places called madbaha2 and the roof called tora.3 In palace, murals are drawn on 1 U¸¸un¢lisande¿a (Mal.) ed., Sooranad Kunjan Pillai, Sl.40, P.191. 2 Inside part of the church, only in this place priest has entry. 92 bed rooms, the private apartments on the king and also in the inner parts of the royal chamber. In namb£thiri houses called illom to ancient times the ancient elite adorn to the mural painting. Upto 19th century the lower castes were prohibited from temple entry, and hence only the upper caste got the opportunity to see the painting. Since a large section of people belonging to the lower caste were denied of this temple art of Kerala. Not much is known on the mural tradition of ancient cave temples. A large section of society was not aware of the existence of such an art which is not allowed to enjoy and appreciate. The result was that an only a minor section of the society had access for the appreciation and evaluation of mural arts. So the influence of this art in Kerala society has been minimal. The Characteristic Feature of Mural Art Almost 2000 years ago the system of decorating place of worship and palaces with colourful pictures came into existence in India. The special ability of Keralites to express certain emotions collectively can be seen reflected on the face expression and emotions of gods and goddesses of the Puranic literature. The characters in mythology are vividly and pictures were drawn in order to register the emotional expression in an effective manner. Some of the murals are characteristic of certain combination of colours, lines, endowed with subtle combination curved lines constitute of another feature of the Kerala murals. The Kerala murals are unique when compared to the mural art of other Indian states. Another important feature of Kerala mural is the meticulous observation of space management each 3 Appendix I 93 and every inch of space is artistically managed by the artist. There is a depth of unnecessary vacant spaces in Kerala murals. There are several factors in Kerala murals which make them more attractive than the murals found in other part of the county. Those factors are- 1.Exuberance of ornaments, 2. The depiction of colours, 3. The attractiveness seen in the character’s facial make up, 4. Crown, etc. and the special characteristics is MaÀip£vu and V¢r¡½ipa¶¶u, MaÀip£vu are the flowers drawn in ink in different styles. These flowers are the peculiarity of Kerala mural paintings.V¢r¡½ipa¶¶u decoration is the manifestation through the rudimental illustration is done with the structural trigonometric forms.In the classical visual art forms like Kathaka½i, K£ttu, K£¶iy¡¶¶am and K¤À¸¡¶¶am has played a significant role in the development of the concept of the Kerala style of mural painting. In Kerala murals what the artist does is to prepare a draft and then fill up the necessary forms with colours. One cannot conceive of murals without an excess of adornment. It is like the effect of music without precession when the luxury of ornament is added to the murals. The significance attached to painting to the backdrop of murals is also important. This is also true, which respect to the background painting seen in murals. The Concept of YakÀi in Mural Painting The pictures of beautiful YakÀi can be seen in the temples like Pundareekapuram temple (Kottayam), Panayannarkavu temple (Pathanamthitta), Padmanabhaswamy temple (Thiruvananthapuram), 94 Kaviyoor temple (Pathanamthitta) and Tali temple (Kozhikode) etc. YakÀi like the tender leaf coloured is pictures as the idol of insanely seductive female beauty. Commonly this beauty is almost dressed only below the hip is pictures as standing under a palm tree holding a mirror. With the pictures of different type of birds and squirrels on the palm tree the mural artist creates an effect of forest in the drawing. YakÀi is visualised a companion of goddesses, not as a blood squeezing idol with sexual usage.4 They are portrayed in blue colour like sapphire, golden and white colour as ashes, and whitish colour. YakÀi is portrayed as an example of extra ordinary beauty. They are picturised as the idols of heavenly attraction. If pleased properly YakÀi showers blessing. The Beauty of Women in Murals The concept of Keralite model of women’s beauty is reflected in paintings of women in Kerala murals. The painting of women in Kerala murals are categorised in the following 5 divisions. 1. áa´khini 2. Padmini 3. Citri¸i 4. á£lini 5. Hastini 4 Aitihyam¡la (Mal.), Kottarattil Sankunni, P. 307. 95 These 5 categories of woman have called Pa´car¡gi¸i.5 The knowledge of Kerala murals is not common among men especially in the earlier stages of development in temples. If only even to it was gods and goddess, who were seen painted on the walls it was evident that they were drawn in cooperating with human emotion and features. The perfect Keralite structure in women beauty has been evident in Kerala murals. Long face and firm body is the feature of ladies belonging to áa´khini type. Mostly the pictures of Sakhi or companion are seen with the features of áa´khini type of character. This category of pictures has beautiful lady having a neck which brings the thought of a three lined conch shell. The female characters that possess elite and graceful emotions like goddesses S¢ta, Mohini etc. were seen drawn on the basic of the lady concept in Padmini category. Fat and fleshy body language is found appropriate in this type. The concept of Citri¸i is used in drawing YakÀi’s. Beautiful body with radiance, modest waist and large and elevated breasts are the body features of Citri¸i. á£lini a sub category derived from the other four categories of female concept is added in the drawings, just as an element, not in the main characters. 5 Oral Interview, Saju Thuruthil, H.O.D, Dept. of Painting, S.S.U.S.