Mural Painting

Mural painting is a painting that is applied to a wall surface, and therefore is an art lying somewhere between fine art and house painting. In India, Mural paintings date back to prehistoric times and are proof that people have an inherited instinct to decorate their surroundings. Given a surface man will paint a mural on it to express his ideas, thoughts, imagination and emotions. Throughout history murals have generally been painted on a larger areas

portraying religious, historic, folk or patriotic themes. Since the popularity of the decorative arts, artists and muralists have adapted their mural painting techniques to create smaller for walls and surfaces found in the home or office. Ornate murals are seen on several temples all over India as a part of the complex tapestry of decorative work that has evolved through the ages. In fact, one of the largest murals ever painted in Asia happens to be on the ceiling of the shrine at the Veerabhadreswara temple at Lepakshi in Andhra Pradesh in South India. The phrase Indian murals, immediately brings the Ajanta and Ellora paintings to one's mind. The paintings date back to the 1st millennium CE and are primarily Buddhist in theme. These murals were painted with vegetable and mineral dyes on cave walls, and were discovered in early 19th century. The murals at Ajanta represent the Buddha as well as instances from the Jataka tales. Apart from these, murals have a long history and tradition in Indian paintings and are found in various parts of the country