Context: Recently, Wall of Peace, which is a modern mural art on 700-feet long was inaugurated at the wall of Government Vocational Higher Secondary School.

Indian Mural Painting

• Indian Mural Paintings are large paintings made on walls or a solid structure of caves and palaces.

• These have existed in India between 10th century BC and 10th century AD.

• Most of the mural paintings are either in natural caves or in rock-cut chambers.

• Common Theme of religions like- Hindu, Buddhist and Jain.

• They cannot be contained on paper and need to be executed on the walls of large structures.

• Earliest evidence of murals is frescoes painted on caves of Ajanta and Ellora, Bagh caves and Sittanvasal.

• Mentioned in Vinaya Pitaka- Amrapali the courtesan of Vaishali employed painters to paint kings, traders and merchants of that time on the walls of her palace.

• Mentioned in- Vishnudharamotaram, a Sanskrit text of the 5th/6th century A.D.

• Principal colours were- red ochre, vivid red (vermilion), yellow ochre, indigo blue, lapis lazuli, lamp black (Kajjal), chalk white, terraverte and green.

Features of Indian Mural Paintings

• Major characteristics- organic relation to architecture and broad public importance.

• They are rich in expressive practicality.

• They are the only form of artwork which is truly three-dimensional.

• The colour materials on the mural paintings in ancient India were derived from the natural materials like- terracotta, chalk, red ochre and yellow ochre mixed with animal fat.

• Ancient mural themes- figures of human beings and animals, hunting, family scenes, court life, deities and stories from Budhhist 'Jataka'.

• Modern mural work can be seen in the ancient theatre room in Jogimara Cave.

Ancient era murals

• In Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura sublime mural works have been found.

• Ladakh wall paintings in- Alchi and Hemis monasteries, made on 11th-12th century.

• Himachal Pradesh ‘s Spiti Valley has Buddhist paintings in gomphas of Tabo Monastery.

• Murals at Vishnu Temple of Madanpur, Uttar Pradesh belongs to 12th century AD and reveals the skills of the painters.

• Cave paintings of Ajanta, were made during 2nd century BC and till 5th-6th century AD has decorative motifs, crowded compositions, figure types and details of costumes.

• Bagh in Madhya Pradesh, Ravan Chhaya Rock shelter, caves of Badami in Karnataka, Sittannavasal in Tamil Nadu and Kailashanatha temple in Ellora.

Medieval era murals

• Murals are present on the walls of forts and palaces of Akbar and Jahangir that has influence of Persian styles.

• Wall paintings in Deeg, Bundi, Jaipur, Ajmer, Jodhpur and other places in Rajasthan were painted during medieval era.

• In the reign of Cholas, Vijayanagaras and Nayakas, this art reached the climax.

• Deccan mural of Bijapur, Hyderabad, and Golconda schools were influenced by the Mughal traditions and later by European culture.

• Maratha murals are shaped under the Mogul traditions and used oil as medium.

• The mural art of Kerala depicted on the walls of temples and monuments show traces of European affinity.

Different types of Indian Mural Paintings

Tempera Painting: done by preparation of pigment into a water-miscible medium.

• It is a method of painting on the lime plastered surface which has been allowed to dry first and then drenched with fresh lime water.

• These paintings are aimed at bringing consistency in artwork while inculcating architectural fundamentals.

• It was done when wall is still wet

Oil Painting: is a standard of painting in oil colours which grips suspension of pigments into drying oils.

• This technique offers an exceptional mixture of tones or colour which provides it a differentiated exclusivity among other fluid painting mediums.

Fresco Painting: is an ancient practice that engrosses painting of water-based pigments on recently applied wet plastered surface, usually on wall façade.

• The surface is allowed to be dry first and then fresh lime water is applied on it.

• The colours to be used in paintings are prepared by grinding dry-powder pigments in pure water.

Encaustic Painting: is combination of pigments with hot, liquid wax, which are applied regularly over the painting plane.

• It is followed by pressing heating part over them until the individual brush marks vanishes to make up a thin & even layer.

Wall painting technique

• Process of these paintings is same in all ancient examples with only exception in the Rajarajeshwara temple at Tanjore which is done in a true fresco method over the surface of the rock.

• Most of the colours were locally available.

• Brushes were made up from the hair of animals, such as goat, camel, mongoose, etc.

• Ground was coated with thin layer of lime plaster over which paintings were drawn in water colours.

• First sketch was drawn by an experienced with a strong black or deep brown line when the final drawing was added.

• After the painter had drawn out his first scheme in red, he applies on this a semi-transparent terraverte monochrome, through which his outline could be seen.

• Mud plaster are applied in two coats- First was rough to fill pores of the rocks and then a final coat of lime plaster is applied over it.

• Pigments that were required for the paints were obtained from local volcanic rocks with the exception of lamp black.

• Animal glue and vegetable gums were also used.

• Facial expressions were highlighted by patches of light colours.

• In order to create illusion of depth, various methods were used.