Kerala murals: colours from minerals and plants
temple mural painting at Balussery Kotta Vettakkorumakan Temple, Kozhikode, Kerala; the image documents the regional mural tradition described in the fact.
Traditional murals in Kerala, southern India, did use natural materials: mineral pigments, plant colourants, soot and lime. But these paintings cannot all be assigned an age of 3,500 years. Kerala’s government tourism portal traces the tradition to the early medieval period and dates most well-known works to the fifteenth through nineteenth centuries. The earliest associated murals at Thirunandikkara temple are now in neighbouring Tamil Nadu.
These images decorate temples and palaces and often tell mythological stories. Their long history does not mean that every paint has the same composition or every mural survives unchanged: each work needs its own dating and material investigation.