Kerala Mural Paintings
ATTUKAL DEVI -the mural picture
The many-armed goddess above her seated attendant, ringed by a flowered prabhavali
Story
The goddess stands frontally, the way a temple idol is seen at the moment the sanctum lamp is lifted — no turn of the head, no narrative action, only presence. Her many arms fan outward in symmetrical pairs, each holding various weapons of creation and destruction
Behind her rises the prabhavali, the arch of glory:
Symbolism
- Many arms
- The one power acting in many directions at once
- Lamps
- Knowledge dispelling ignorance; the living flame of the sanctum
- Prabhavali arch
- The aura of the deity given architectural shape
- Seated attendant
- The devotee — worship shown inside the image itself
- Offerings at the base
- Flowers, fruits and bell and vessels for offering the pooja
Artistic Technique
- Warm ochre range with green reserved for the arch fringe and garments
- Fine stipple to model faces and limbs; no blending
- Spirals and flower motifs of the ground drawn freehand, never stamped
