Mattancherry Palace, Kochi. Ramayana mural, 16th century. Photograph: Radhika Suresh.
The Wall
You are looking at a wall painted in the 16th century by artists whose names we do not know, for a king who understood that a god made visible on a wall was more powerful than a god described in a text.
The Ramayana mural at Mattancherry Palace in Kochi is one of the most complete surviving examples of a tradition that once covered the interior walls of temples and palaces across Kerala. It was painted using colours ground from the earth — iron oxide red, mineral yellow, plant green, conch white, lamp soot black. The figures follow a visual grammar so precise that a devotee standing before this wall in the 16th century could read it as fluently as a page of text.
Most of that grammar has been forgotten. Most of those walls are damaged, replastered, or gone. What survives is extraordinary — and fragile in ways it has never been before. This archive exists because of that fragility. And because of what these walls still have to say.
From the Field
Photographs from active fieldwork across Kerala's temple and palace sites. All images are original documentation taken during research visits conducted between 2024 and 2026.
Images from active temple sites published with permission from the respective governing authorities.
How would you like to begin?
The archive is organised four ways. Choose whichever feels most natural, you can always move between them.
Browse by Location
Journey through temple sites and palace complexes across Kerala. Each location carries its own history, patronage, and artistic tradition.
Explore →Browse by Deity
From Krishna's childhood to Durga's battle to Vishnu's ten avatars: explore murals organised by the divine figures at their centre.
Explore →Browse by Theme
The Ramayana, the Mahabharata. See how the same narratives are retold across different walls, different centuries, different hands.
Explore →Explore All Murals
Browse the complete archive as an open collection — all documented murals, all sites, searchable and sortable.
Enter the Archive →Go Deeper
Essays on Kerala murals — written for anyone curious enough to look closely. No prior knowledge required.
Essay · Visual Grammar
Reading a Wall
The Mattancherry Ramayana carries a visual grammar that most visitors never learn to read.
Read the Essay →
Essay · History
Origins
On patronage, power, and the decision to cover a wall in images rather than leave it bare.
Read the Essay →
Essay · Conservation
What Is Lost, What Remains
The deterioration and survival of Kerala's murals — what conservation can do, and what it cannot.
Read the Essay →
