The state of Kerala holds the second place in having the largest collection of archaeologically important mural site, the first being Rajasthan. The mural tradition of Kerala evolved as a complement to her unique architectural style. According to scholars the Kerala School of Painting represents the final and fading phase of Indian traditional painting. These wall paintings are characterized by their accuracy, the adherence to colour symbolism, elaborate ornamentatious and sensitive portrayal of emotions.People of all ages and climes have been filling their walls with frescoes and paintings from very early times. The large bare walls of churches and cathedrals, the outer and inner walls of Hindu temples and palaces and the dark inside of Buddhist Viharas and caves have always been inviting if not challenging to the mural artist. The unknown artists of Ajantha and Ellora, the versatile Leonardo Davinci of the 

Last Supper and Michael angelo of the Sistine Chapel decorations have all come down to us as classic examples of inventive power and spiritual energy. Kerala on the south-western cost of India has won the admiration of every visitor because of its resplendent greenery and luxuriant vegetation. Every aspect of Kerala art blends into this pervasive greenery with perfect harmony. Nothing loud, nothing discordant. Every work of art maintains a subdued tone.

One can say that the tradition of painting on walls began in Kerala with the pre-historic rock paintings found in the Anjanad Valley of Idukki district. Archeologists presume that these paintings belong to different periods from upper Paleolithic period to Early historic period. Rock engravings dating to the Mesolithic period have also been discovered in two regions of Kerala, at Edakkal in Wayanad and at Perimkadavila in Thiruvananthapuram district.

It is not difficult to trace the roots of the Kerala mural styles to the more ancient Dravidian art of Kalamezhuthu. This was much more fully developed art form connected with religious rituals. It was a ritual art of sprinkling and filling up different colour powders inside outlines sketched with the powder.

The hall of the cave must have once been richly decorated with paintings. However at present only sketchy outlines have survived the passage of years. The paintings that were here were executed in all probability in the 9^th or 10^th century A.D. Apart from this there are no other paintings that can be dated to the period  between the 9^th and the 13^th century A.D.  However a tenth century inscription of Goda Ravi Varman found in the Cheruthuruthy Tali temple in Thrissur district mentions the wages that were paid to mural painters.

The subjects for murals were derived from religious texts. Palace and temple murals were peopled with highly stylized pictures of gods and goddesses of the Hindu pantheon. It was not a fanciful representation but drawn from the descriptions in the invocatory verses or ‘dhyana slokas’. Flora and fauna and other aspects of Nature were also pictured as back-drops in highly stylized manners.

The murals of Kanthaloor in Thiruvananthapuram district (13the century) and those of Pisharikavu and Kaliampalli in Kozhikode district (14^th century) and those of Pisharikavu and Kalimapalli in Kozhikode district (14^th century)are the oldest extant temple frescoes of Kerala. Representing the prolific period of mural art viz. the period between the 14^th and 16^th centuries A.D. are the Ramayana murals of Mattancherry Palace and the paintings in the temples like Thrissur Vadakkumnatha temple, Chemmanthitta Siva temple and those at Kudamaloor and Thodeekkalam in Kannur district. They represent a latter phase in the evolution of medieval mural tradition. Likewise the wall paintings at Panayannar Kavu, Thrichakrapuram, Kottakkal as well as those in Padmanabhapuram and Krishnapuram palaces and those in the inner chambers and the lower floor of Mattancherry palace, represent a much later period in the evolution of medieval tradtion.

A close study of the mural art of Kerala will prove to be valuable in understanding the State’s art and cultural tradition. It was a tradition that was nor averse to incorporate the best of the diverse cultural and aesthetic influences that it was open to. But alongside it was also able to retain and preserve its own individuality.