Browse by Visual Features
Kerala mural painting is a visual language. Every element — the shape of an eye, the angle of a wrist, the colour applied to a deity's skin, the shading technique used to build up a figure's form — was governed by rules derived from ancient Sanskrit treatises and transmitted through generations of painters. This browse pathway is for those who want to study that language directly. It organises the archive not by location or narrative but by the visual elements themselves — the iconographic types, the gesture systems, the colour conventions, the compositional structures. A researcher looking for all documented examples of the tribhanga posture, or all murals showing sringara rasa in the facial expression, or all instances of a specific eye type, can use this pathway to find them. This is the most technically demanding of the four browse pathways. It assumes some familiarity with the iconographic system — or a willingness to learn it. The essay Reading a Wall in Contexts is a good place to start.
Mudras — abhaya, varada, mudrakhya, anjali
Postures — samabhanga, tribhanga, athibhanga
Body type — male, female, divine, demonic, hybrid
Chaapakrithi — bow-shaped
Matsyodaram — fish belly
Padmapathram — lotus petal
Ulpalapatram — lily petal
Shankhapatram — conch shell
Sringara — shyamam, dark blue-green
Hasya — swetham, white
Karuna — grey
Roudra — red
Veera — saffron
Shanta — the dominant register of Kerala temple murals
Manimaala: separation between scenes
Vanamaala: frieze decorations
Panjaram: architectural projections
Mashipoov: repeated decorative patterns
Pathrakam — leaf vein lines
Rekhikam — parallel narrow lines
Bindujavarthana — dot shading
Weapons and objects held
Vahana or mount depicted
Ornaments and headgear
Costume type
For a complete explanation of the iconographic system, see the essays Reading a Wall and The Aesthetics of Affect in Contexts. For the textual sources that govern these conventions, see The Painter’s Process.
