Kerala, popularly called the God’s own country, has a rich tradition of ancient murals.Just as the paintings of Ajanta are considered unique for their colour and form, the murals of Kerala stand out for their emphasis on beauty, clarity and symmetry. These predominantly depict religious and mystic themes.
The colour symbolism generally follows the permutations of the psychological qualities of embodied in the quasi-scientific philosophical systems of the gunas the triple division of all reality with satva or balanced, pure, divine; rajas or active, dynamic, irascible; and tamas or inert, impure, base. The colour symbolism of the triad is traditionally green for satvic, red and a mixture of red and yellows for the rajasic and black (Shivite) and White (Vaishanavite) for the tamasic deities. Saffron-red is the most predominant colour of the Kerala murals.
