The first ever mural painting of Jesus Christ's 'Last Supper' using purely temple art techniques, meant as Kerala's gift to the Pope, is getting the finishing touches at the Vasthu Vidya Gurukulam at Aranmula in Pathanamthitta district.

The work by artist Suresh Muthukulam is also envisaged as an attempt to adapt a Biblical theme to a medium used predominantly to depict Hindu mythological subjects on the temple walls in Kerala.

The Kerala Cultural Department has initiated steps to send the work to Vatican to be dedicated to the Holy Seer.

"The Last Supper is one of the most dramatic episodes in Christ's life. It has been immortalised by Leonardo da Vinci. Here we are trying to create a mural version strictly adhering to the ritualistic and artistic aspects as practised in Kerala for centuries," the Gurukulam's executive director P N Suresh said.

Artist Suresh had been working on it for over six months. Before that, laborious groundwork had gone into the research, tempering the 6x4 asbestos table on which the work is done and preparation of the natural colours out of limestone and leaves.

"The work will be ready in another 10 days. It may need a few days' seasoning and then will be despatched to the Vatican through the Papal Nuncio in India," Suresh said.

In the normal case, murals are done on permanent temple walls. There are also a few instances of them decorating the walls of churches in Kerala, Suresh said.

Since this particular work is meant to be moved from place to place, asbestos sheet was chosen as the medium. It was first coated with a special variety of limestone mixed with tender coconut water. Then it was smoothened with a particular kind of wood-gum and finely powdered conch-shell. The total thickness of the surface, as per tradition, should not exceed that of a single tamarind leaf.

The colours are made of natural substances like powdered stones and crushed leaves mixed with vegetable oil. For instance, the black colour used in the work is derived from grimy smoke emitted by the burning wicks of the 'nilavilakku', the traditional bell metal lamp.

"You could just imagine how many days it would have taken to make 10 grams of black shade to be used in the painting," Suresh said.

Before finalising the theme, its theological aspects and thematic nuances were discussed for days on end with a catholic priest, who is now holding an executive position in the Vatican, he said.

"There are many aspects. For instance, the positioning of each disciple from the central character, Christ and the expression on each one's face etc," he said.

"The biggest challenge, however, is to re-create the whole scene into a native medium without compromising on its ritualistic strength, as we all are influenced by models left by Western masters as far as Biblical themes are concerned," Suresh said.

The strength of the mural painting, as it was practised traditionally, is that they tried to recreate visually what the sages had conceived mentally through slokas. It required immense dedication and concentration on the artist's part to give the visual expression, Suresh said.

The Vathu Vidya Gurukulam, dedicated to the preservation and promotion of traditional art and architecture of Kerala, had so far helped renovation of 243 temples across the state.

The Gurukulam, under the state cultural department, had embarked on an ambitious project to document thousands of structures and monuments built on Kerala's architectural style.

The Gurukulam had been able to grow into a self-sustaining institution within a short span of time, Suresh added.

(Agencies)