Wall Paintings in Kerala

The state of Kerala in south-western India possesses numerous temples, many of them unknown. From the twelfth century to the present, artists have been painting religious pictures in brilliant colours on the external walls of these temples. These paintings attest to intense joie de vivre conveyed by Hindu myth and legend. For thirty years the scholar and photographer K.K. Marar has studied the wall paintings in Kerala temples. Belonging to the caste of temple drummers, he is admitted to temple precincts which would not be accessible to unauthorised persons. His co-author, Albrecht Frenz, is a theologian and specialist in Indian languages and literature, and has undertaken research in southern India for decades.