Kerala Mural Painting on Canvas by Soumya

Kerala mural paintings are the frescos depicting Hindu mythology and legends, which are drawn on the walls of temples and churches in South India, principally in Kerala.

Ancient temples and palaces in Kerala, [[South India], display an abounding tradition of mural paintings mostly dating back between the 9th to 12th centuries CE when this form of art enjoyed royal patronage. Latterly, Christian churches near BVM college Cherpunkel in Kerala have commissioned mural paintings with Christian subjects in the local style. The scriptural basis of these paintings can be found in the Sanskrit texts, 'Chithrasoothram - (Chitrasutra is a part of the Vishnu Dharmottara Purana, a book written in Sanskrit about 1500 years ago. It contains 287 short verses in nine chapters and a few prose in the second chapter. There is no other book on painting as detailed as the Chitrasutra. This book answers hundreds of questions about what a painting is, why, its purpose, role, relationship with the painter, connoisseurs, and other arts. Chitrasutra will be useful to understand the true Indian painting.)Tantrasamuchaya, the fifteenth century text authored by Narayanan, Abhilashitartha Chintamani of the twelfth century and Silparatna by Sreekumaran of the sixteenth century. Iconography of the mythological character in murals are based on the Dhyanaslokas