Kerala Mural Paintings
Ganapati in the Lotus Light
A small panel of Lord Ganesha against a golden ground, in a woven dark frame
Story
Lord Ganesha is in its miniature form, trunk curled to the right, one tusk broken, the eyes drawn long and steady in the mural manner.
The complexion is the warm rose-coral used for the benign gods, modelled with dense stipple so that the cheek and trunk turn softly rather than through any hard shading.
At the top, a stalk of red lotuses rises in three stages, buds to open flower, drawn with green sepal scrolls that echo the halo's fan. The ground behind is a graded yellow-to-amber stipple that makes the panel read as lamp-lit even in daylight.
Symbolism
- Curled trunk
- Adaptability — the strength that bends
- Rising lotuses
- Auspicious beginnings, offered at every threshold
Artistic Technique
- Full drawing set out in yellow ochre at miniature scale
- Complexion stippled in fine coral over an ivory base
- Ornament drawn with a fine-hair brush at near-magnifier scale
