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The art of decorating temple walls with images started a few centuries ago in Kerala. It has been fascinating to find some good examples of murals still intact on the walls of temples, royal palaces, and homes of Jenmis (landed aristocrats). The images followed a pattern in terms of structure, dimension, ornamentation and posture. The paintings found in churches date to a much later period depicting biblical stories, quite different in style, technicalities, etc in comparison to the temple murals. This book is a beginning of an in-depth exploration into traditional Kerala mural painting, its style and technicalities followed in ancient temples, palaces and homes.

As a student of Guruvayur Mural Painting Institute promoted by Guruvayur Devaswom Board, I had a wonderful opportunity to understand the murals up close. I was fortunate to explore and study the temples and palaces in Kerala. My travels to Mattanchery palace, Thodeekalam Siva temple, Chemmanthitta Mahadeva temple, Trissur Vadakkumnathan Siva temple, Keezhur Siva temple, Pandavam Sree Dharma Sasta temple, Kaliyamvalli Bhagavathi temple, Panayannarkav Bhagavathi temple, and Pundarikapuram Vishnu temple have been fruitful in understanding the various aspects of Kerala mural paintings. Study of the mural compositions there inspired me to adopt talapramanam as the basis. It also led me to consider Kerala mural art with a new pespective, and build a new tradition of study by deciphering the approaches in those styles. A long thorough study of mural patterns and the laws of Shilpashastras (science of sculpture) was undertaken for this purpose. It can be observed that all forms of art generally have a set curriculum. Unfortunately, most of these knowledge systems have gone extinct with gurukula sampradaya. This further encouraged me in developing a curriculum for Kerala mural painting. It was in 2004, that I first prepared a scheme for teaching, based on my explorations.

If we try to re-examine the ancient images on the founding basis of traditional scientific texts, we may be able to recover some of the lost ancient practices. This book is my humble attempt in trying to revive the lost knowledge, on the basis of available sources. I have prepared this book for mural students and art teachers, the first in a series which I intend to publish. This book provides in-depth knowledge of basic talapramana (navatala), mudras, ornaments, vastra, ayudhas and alankaras. Although, the basis for this book is derived from Shilpashastras, small variations have been made with respect to Kerala murals. I have been privileged to impart this knowledge of Kerala mural painting to many students over the last two decades. It is at their behest that I got motivated to publish this book.