Challenging the Canonical Framework of Indian Art History: Temple Murals as Popular Visual Culture

Abstract

Indian art history is hindered by an exclusionist agenda where visual manifestations of culture are segregated as art and craft. The ancient religious mural tradition in southern India is acknowledged as art due to royal patronage and the position of painting as an adjunct to temple architecture and sculpture. In Indian art history, the canonical mural tradition is seen as having ended in 19th century. But is it really dead? Contemporary temple murals boast the same themes and occupy the same sites, albeit in an altered technique and style. Although their roots are traditional, they are considered different in terms of material technology, their hybrid origins and in their perception as kitsch, and therefore low art. These contemporary religious murals have been excluded from art historical study, with scholarly writing in the field lapsing at the perceived end of tradition with the Nayaka period. This paper questions the above premise and privileges the popular, seeking to repudiate the idea of separation of high and low art, using contemporary temple murals in Tamil Nadu as case study. Plurality of expression needs to be embraced within the mainstream of Indian art. These murals should be seen as a trajectory of traditional painting in their contextualization within the mural tradition and in a modern democratic polity. Positions have changed for the artist, patrons and the paintings themselves. Indian art history needs to be rewritten with a predilection towards inclusivity, bringing within its ambit popular visual culture, rather than divorcing it from its past.