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Class 11Art & CultureAn Introduction to Indian Art – Part IChapter 5

Later Mural Traditions

≈ 30 min read · 6 Prelims and 0 Mains questions from this chapter

Attempt questions

Start here: why this chapter matters

In simple wordsAjanta is the most famous name in Indian wall painting, but it was not the end of the story. Like a relay race, the brush passed from the Deccan to the Pallava, Pandya and Chola kingdoms, then to Vijayanagara, the Nayakas and Kerala — each runner changing the style a little. This chapter follows the baton.

The chapter is short and moves fast through about twelve centuries (6th–18th c.) of mural painting in the Deccan and South India: Badami, the Pallava temples, Sittanavasal, the Chola paintings of Thanjavur, the Vijayanagara and Nayaka traditions, and Kerala murals, ending with present-day folk wall painting. Few paintings survive, so each site matters; the exam rewards knowing which dynasty, which site, which theme.

Links in this book: Chapter 4 (Ajanta, Bagh) supplies the starting point; the plate ‘Mural Traditions of India’ at the end of Chapter 4 previews this chapter; Chapter 6 covers the temples (Thanjavur, Hampi) whose walls these paintings decorate.
Links to Themes in Indian History: Theme Seven (An Imperial Capital: Vijayanagara) covers Hampi and the Virupaksha temple; Theme Six (Bhakti–Sufi Traditions) gives the religious setting of Tamil temple art.
UPSC: Prelims has asked about Lepakshi’s murals (1990, 2013), Sittanavasal (2023), Panamalai (1997), Mahendravarman’s titles (2025) and Madhubani (2009).

Word	What it means here
Mural	A painting made directly on a wall or ceiling
Mandapa	A pillared hall in front of a shrine
Somaskanda	Shiva seated with Uma and their son Skanda — a favourite Pallava theme
Tripurantaka	Shiva as destroyer of the three cities of the demons
Nataraja	Shiva as lord of dance
Bhikshatana	Shiva as a wandering mendicant
Mohini	Vishnu’s enchantress form
Krishna-leela	Episodes of Krishna’s life and play
Kalam ezhuthu	Kerala’s ritual floor drawing in coloured powders
Kathakali	Kerala’s dance-drama with elaborate make-up and costume
Profile	A face drawn from the side
Rectilinear compartments	Rectangular panels that divide a story into frames

The chapter’s sites and dynasties placed on one to-scale axis.

Every dynasty, site and theme the chapter names, in one grid.

Reading NCERT’s chapter-opening painting (page 61)A brilliantly coloured Kerala-style mural: a blue-green crowned deity sits in a decorative frame, a canopy of serpent hoods behind, surrounded by flaming red, yellow and white ornament. What to notice: the saturated colours, heavy ornament and bold outlines that mark the Kerala tradition at the end of the chapter. (The plate at the end of Chapter 4 identifies a similar image as Anantha from the Ananthapadmanabha temple, Kasaragod.)

At a glance — the six ideas to carry away

Badami (Karnataka): early Chalukya; Vishnu cave dedicated by Mangalesha, inscription 578–579 CE; fragment on the front mandapa ceiling — Kirtivarman watching a dance; Ajanta-like line.
Pallava: Mahendravarman I — titles Vichitrachitta, Chitrakarapuli, Chaityakari; Panamalai Devi; Kanchipuram Somaskanda (Rajasimha).
Pandya: Tirumalaipuram; Jain caves of Sittanavasal — dancing celestial nymphs on veranda pillars, red outlines, yellow bodies.
Chola: Brihadeswara, Thanjavur — paintings in the passage round the shrine, under a 16th-c. Nayak layer; Shiva as Tripurantaka and Nataraja; Rajaraja and his mentor.
Vijayanagara: Tiruparakunram, Hampi (Virupaksha ceiling — Vidyaranya’s procession), Lepakshi; profile faces, flat figures, compartments. Nayaka: Srirangam, Tiruvarur, Chidambaram, Chengam.
Kerala (16th–18th c.): Kathakali and kalam ezhuthu cues, local epics, 60+ sites, palaces; living wall art — Pithoro, Mithila, Warli.

1. Badami: Ajanta’s line carried south

In simple wordsAs the Vakatakas faded, the Chalukyas rose in the Deccan and hired painters who had clearly learnt from Ajanta’s workshops. Only a scrap survives at Badami — but that scrap is a royal party, painted with the same soft, flowing line.

NCERT notes that sculptures too were plastered and painted, and that sculpting and painting went on together in caves. Badami, in Karnataka, was the capital of the early Chalukyas, who rose in the Deccan as the Vakatakas declined. The Chalukya king Mangalesha — younger son of Pulakesi I and brother of Kirtivarman I — patronised the Badami caves. An inscription of 578–579 CE praises the cave and records the dedication of an image of Vishnu; the patron declares his Vaishnava affiliation, and the cave is popularly called the Vishnu Cave. Only a fragment of painting survives, on the vaulted roof of the front mandapa.

The paintings show palace scenes. One shows Kirtivarman (Pulakesi I’s son, Mangalesha’s elder brother) seated in the palace with his wife and feudatories, watching a dance; Indra and his retinue appear in a corner. Stylistically it extends Ajanta’s tradition into the south: sinuous lines, fluid forms, compact composition — mature sixth-century skill. The faces of king and queen recall Ajanta’s modelling: large eye-sockets, half-closed eyes, protruding lips; the contours of facial parts themselves suggest projection, so simple line creates volume.

Reading NCERT’s ‘Queen and attendants, Badami’ (page 61)A heavily faded fragment in browns, ochres and greens: the soft forms of seated and standing figures, a dark round shape (a head-dress or ornament) near the top, a greenish band above. What to notice: how little survives — which is why the chapter keeps stressing ‘fragments’ — and the soft, rounded modelling in the faint faces, close to Ajanta.

Badami: two NCERT slips

NCERT says the inscription is in Cave No. 4. Standard accounts place Mangalesha’s 578 CE inscription and the painting fragments in Cave 3, the Vaishnava cave; Cave 4 at Badami is Jain (Beyond NCERT). In exams use ‘the Vishnu cave, dedicated by Mangalesha, 578 CE’.
NCERT says the early Chalukyas ruled ‘from 543 to 598 CE’; that span covers only Pulakesi I and Kirtivarman I. The Chalukyas of Badami ruled until the mid-8th century (c. 753 CE), when the Rashtrakutas replaced them (Beyond NCERT).

Beyond NCERT

Badami (ancient Vatapi) has four main rock-cut caves: Caves 1–3 Brahmanical (Shaiva and Vaishnava), Cave 4 Jain. The most famous Chalukya king is Pulakesi II, who defeated Harsha.
UPSC 1997 matched Chalukya — Badami and Pallava — Panamalai (with Gupta — Deogarh, Chandela — Khajuraho).

2. The Pallavas: a painter-king

In simple wordsImagine a king proud enough of his artistic eye to carve ‘tiger among painters’ into his own inscription. Mahendravarman I did just that — and painting followed his temples.

Painting spread further south into Tamil Nadu under the Pallava, Pandya and Chola dynasties. The Pallava king Mahendravarman I (7th century) is credited by NCERT with temples at Panamalai, Mandagapattu and Kanchipuram. The Mandagapattu inscription gives him titles such as Vichitrachitta (‘curious-minded’), Chitrakarapuli (‘tiger among artists’) and Chaityakari (‘temple builder’). Paintings in these temples were made at his initiative, but only fragments remain. The Panamalai female divinity is gracefully drawn. Paintings at the Kanchipuram temple were patronised by Rajasimha; traces show Somaskanda. Faces are round and large; lines are rhythmic with more ornament than before; the torso is still sculptural but elongated.

Reading NCERT’s ‘Devi — seventh century CE, Panamalai’ (page 63)A close view of a graceful female face in yellow and ochre, outlined in fine red-brown line, eyes lowered, a crown of delicate golden ornament, layered necklaces, one hand raised near the chin; patches of green and red background survive around her. What to notice: fine, rhythmic line, a round full face, and rich ornament — the Pallava features NCERT lists.

Which Pallava king? — attributions to check

NCERT credits Mahendravarman I with temples at Panamalai, Mandagapattu and Kanchipuram. Standard accounts give him the rock-cut shrine at Mandagapattu, while the structural Talagirishvara temple at Panamalai and the Kailasanatha temple at Kanchipuram belong to Rajasimha (Narasimhavarman II, c. 700 CE) — as NCERT itself says for the Kanchipuram paintings (Beyond NCERT). So the Panamalai Devi is usually dated to around 700 CE.
NCERT says the Pallavas ‘succeeded’ the Chalukyas; in fact they were contemporaries and rivals (Beyond NCERT).
The section heading reads ‘Pallava, Pandava and Chola’ — a misprint for Pandya. The text also says ‘preceding centuries’ where it means ‘succeeding’.

Beyond NCERT

UPSC 2025: the titles Mattavilasa, Vichitrachitta and Gunabhara belong to Mahendravarman I, who also wrote the Sanskrit farce Mattavilasa-prahasana (UPSC 1989, 1993).
Mandagapattu is often described as the first Pallava rock-cut temple, built ‘without brick, timber, metal or mortar’ according to its inscription.

3. The Pandyas and Sittanavasal

In simple wordsIn a small Jain cave in Tamil Nadu, the ceiling is still a pond of lotuses and the pillars still carry dancing heavenly women — painted more than a thousand years ago, in red lines and warm yellow.

The Pandyas also patronised art. Surviving examples include the Tirumalaipuram caves (a few fragmentary layers) and the Jain caves at Sittanavasal, where paintings appear on the ceilings of shrines, in verandas and on brackets. On the veranda pillars are dancing celestial nymphs: contours firmly drawn in vermilion red on a lighter ground; bodies in yellow with subtle modelling; supple limbs, expressive faces and swaying rhythm. Their eyes are slightly elongated and at times protrude beyond the face — a feature seen in many later Deccan and South Indian paintings.

The surfaces NCERT says are painted at Sittanavasal. Generic schematic, not the cave’s actual plan.

Reading NCERT’s ‘Sittanvasal — early Pandya period, ninth century CE’ (page 62)

Left: a slim young man in a white loincloth stands among large pink lotus flowers and broad green leaves, holding lotus stalks — someone gathering lotuses in a pond.
Right: a dense pond scene — pink lotuses, round leaves, birds, fish and animals, with a human figure among the flowers, much of the paint flaked.
What to notice: these photographs show the famous lotus-pond ceiling, not the dancing nymphs the text describes. Beyond NCERT: the pond is often read as a Jain heavenly or assembly (samavasarana) theme — an interpretation, not a certainty.

Sittanavasal: dynasty and date — a debateNCERT dates the paintings to the early Pandya period, 9th century CE. Older books credited them to the Pallava Mahendravarman I (7th century). Most scholars now follow the Pandya date, based on an inscription recording renovation in a Pandya king’s reign (Beyond NCERT). Exam line: ‘Jain cave paintings, Pandya period (9th c.)’. UPSC 2023 accepted ‘Sittanavasal — Jain cave shrine’.

4. The Cholas: Thanjavur’s hidden paintings

In simple wordsIn the dark corridor round the great Thanjavur shrine, later painters simply painted over the old walls. Only when restorers cleaned the top coat did the older Chola masterpieces come back to light — like finding an old letter under new wallpaper.

The Cholas ruled from the ninth to the thirteenth century; masterpieces came in the eleventh, at the height of their power. The Brihadeswara temple at Thanjavur, Gangaikonda Cholapuram and Darasuram were built under Rajaraja Chola, his son Rajendra Chola, and Rajaraja Chola II respectively. Chola paintings occur at Nartamalai, but the most important are at Brihadeswara: painted on the walls of the narrow passage round the shrine. Two layers were found; the upper was painted in the Nayak period (16th century). Cleaning it revealed the Chola paintings: narratives of Shiva — Shiva in Kailash, as Tripurantaka, as Nataraja — a portrait of the patron Rajaraja with his mentor Kuruvar, dancing figures and more. Their sinuous, pre-determined line, supple modelling and elongated features show both perfection and a phase of transition.

Where the Brihadeswara paintings are, and how they were hidden. Schematic.

⤵ How the Chola paintings were recovered

11th centuryChola painters cover the passage walls round the shrine

16th centuryNayak-period painters paint a new layer over them

Discoverytwo layers are found on the walls

Cleaningthe surface layer is cleaned and the Chola paintings appear

StudyShiva narratives, the royal portrait, dancers — the Chola style recovered

Exam traps

Builders: Thanjavur — Rajaraja I; Gangaikonda Cholapuram — Rajendra I; Darasuram — Rajaraja II.
The upper layer at Brihadeswara is Nayak (16th c.), the lower Chola (11th c.) — not the reverse.
NCERT spells the mentor ‘Kuruvar’ in the text and ‘Karuvur Dever’ in the Chapter 4 plate; he is usually called Karuvur Devar.

Beyond NCERTThe Brihadeswara (Rajarajeshwaram) temple was completed around 1010 CE; it is part of the UNESCO ‘Great Living Chola Temples’ with Gangaikonda Cholapuram and Darasuram. Chapter 6 covers its architecture.

5. Vijayanagara and the Nayakas

In simple wordsVijayanagara painters turned figures sideways and laid them flat, like characters in a comic strip arranged in neat boxes. It is less about three-dimensional bodies and more about telling a long story clearly — and the Nayakas carried the same style on for two centuries.

As Chola power declined in the thirteenth century, the Vijayanagara dynasty (14th–16th centuries) controlled the region from Hampi (its capital) to Trichy. Paintings at Tiruparakunram (14th century) show the early phase. At Hampi, the Virupaksha temple has paintings on its mandapa ceiling of dynastic history and episodes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata, including Vidyaranya, spiritual teacher of King Bukka, carried in a palanquin procession, and the avatars of Vishnu. Faces are in profile with large frontal eyes; figures have narrow waists. At Lepakshi near Hindupur (Andhra Pradesh) are glorious paintings on the walls of the Shiva temple. The Vijayanagara language: faces in profile, figures and objects two-dimensional, lines still but fluid, compositions in rectilinear compartments.

Reading NCERT’s ‘Dakshinamurty, Vijayanagar, Lepakshi’ (page 64)A ceiling-like panel under a band of dark, patterned ornament: a pale crowned central figure sits frontally with attendants and sages around him, one with a green face, another dark-skinned, figures in checked and patterned garments. What to notice: the flat treatment, crisp outlines, patterned textiles and frontal-or-profile figures set in a compartment — and the theme, Shiva as Dakshinamurti, the teacher.

Reading NCERT’s ‘Ladies attending Parvati, Virbhadra Temple, Lepakshi’ (page 65)Four women in a row, three in profile and one turned, against a red ground: long noses, large eyes drawn frontally in profile faces, heavy earrings and pearl necklaces, hair in buns, white garments with fine black patterns, narrow waists. What to notice: repetition, profile faces with frontal eyes, flat colour and patterned dress — the Vijayanagara formula.

Nayaka paintings (NCERT: 17th–18th centuries) survive at Tiruparakunram, Srirangam and Tiruvarur. At Tiruparakunram there are paintings of the 14th and 17th centuries, the earlier depicting the life of Vardhamana Mahavira. Nayaka themes: the Mahabharata, Ramayana and Krishna-leela; at Tiruvarur, the story of Muchukunda; at Chidambaram, Shiva as Bhikshatana and Vishnu as Mohini; at the Sri Krishna temple, Chengam (Arcot district), 60 panels of the Ramayana — the late phase. Nayaka painting is an extension of Vijayanagara with regional changes: figures mostly in profile on a flat background; male figures slim-waisted with a lighter abdomen than in Vijayanagara; artists still try to create movement — e.g. the Nataraja at Tiruvalanjuli.

One line on each tradition’s way of drawing a figure, as NCERT describes it.

⤵ One relay of styles (NCERT’s sequence)

Ajanta (5th c.)modelled volume, flowing line

Badami (6th c.)Ajanta-like faces; line creates volume

Pallava and Pandya (7th–9th c.)round faces, rhythmic line, elongated eyes

Chola (11th c.)sinuous line, supple modelling — maturity and transition

Vijayanagara (14th–16th c.)profiles, flat figures, compartments

Nayaka (17th–18th c.)Vijayanagara extended with regional changes

Names and places to handle carefully

NCERT writes ‘Vidyaranya, the spiritual teacher of Bukkaraya Harsha’; read it as Bukka Raya (Bukka I), co-founder of Vijayanagara with Harihara (Beyond NCERT).
NCERT places ‘Tiruparakunram’ near Trichy and links it to paintings of Mahavira’s life. The Jain temple with 14th- and 17th-century paintings of the Tirthankaras’ lives is usually identified as Tiruparuttikunram (Jina-Kanchi) near Kanchipuram (Beyond NCERT). Remember the facts — 14th- and 17th-century layers, Mahavira’s life — rather than the location.
Lepakshi is in Andhra Pradesh, near Hindupur, and is known for Vijayanagara paintings (UPSC 1990, 2013).

6. Kerala murals

In simple wordsKerala painters borrowed from their neighbours but also from what they saw at home every day — the painted faces of Kathakali dancers and the coloured-powder drawings made on temple floors. The result glows like stained glass.

From the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, Kerala painters evolved their own pictorial language and technique, selectively adopting elements of the Nayaka and Vijayanagara schools and taking cues from Kathakali and kalam ezhuthu (ritual floor painting). They used vibrant, luminous colours and gave human figures three-dimensionality. Most paintings are on shrine walls and temple cloisters, some in palaces. Themes are episodes of Hindu mythology popular in Kerala, often from oral traditions and local versions of the Ramayana and Mahabharata. More than sixty sites are known, including three palaces — the Dutch palace (Kochi), Krishnapuram palace (Kayamkulam) and Padmanabhapuram palace. The mature phase can be seen at the Pundareekapuram Krishna temple, Panayanarkavu, Thirukodithanam, the Triprayar Sri Rama temple and the Vadakkunnathan temple, Thrissur.

The sources NCERT names for Kerala murals, and where to see them.

⤵ How a Kerala mural comes together (NCERT’s account)

Borrow selectivelystylistic elements from Nayaka and Vijayanagara painting

Look locallyKathakali faces and costume; kalam ezhuthu’s coloured floor drawings

Choose the storymyths popular in Kerala, from oral and local versions of the epics

Paintvibrant, luminous colours; figures given volume

Placeshrine walls, temple cloisters, palace rooms — 60+ sites

Reading NCERT’s ‘Venugopal, Sri Rama Temple, Triprayar’ (page 66)A blazing orange-red panel: a blue-skinned Krishna with a tall crown plays the flute at the centre, surrounded by crowned figures in green, white and gold, their faces round with wide eyes and painted features recalling Kathakali make-up. What to notice: colour coding of skin (blue for the deity), dense ornament filling every space, bold outlines.

Reading NCERT’s ‘Krishna playing flute, accompanied by Gopikas, Krishna temple, Pundareekapuram’ (page 67)A close view of Krishna, his face and body painted in green, crowned and garlanded, playing the flute amid swirling orange, yellow and blue ornament. What to notice: luminous, saturated colour and modelled forms — the ‘three-dimensionality’ NCERT credits to Kerala painters.

Beyond NCERT

The Dutch palace at Kochi is the Mattancherry Palace (the Chapter 4 plate shows its Ramayana panel); Padmanabhapuram Palace is in Kanyakumari district, now in Tamil Nadu, though it was the old Travancore palace and is maintained by Kerala.
Kerala murals typically use a limited palette of natural pigments in which ochre-red, yellow and green dominate.

7. Wall painting today

In simple wordsThe tradition did not stop with temples and palaces. In villages across India, people — very often women — still paint the walls of their homes for weddings, festivals or just to make them beautiful.

Mural painting on the inner and outer walls of village houses and havelis is still common in many parts of India, usually made by women at ceremonies and festivals, or as routine cleaning and decoration. NCERT names Pithoro (parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat), Mithila painting (northern Bihar’s Mithila region) and Warli painting (Maharashtra), as well as simple wall paintings in villages of Odisha, Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Living wall-painting traditions NCERT lists, with a few Beyond-NCERT notes.

Exam traps

Madhubani (Mithila) — Bihar (UPSC 2009). Warli — Maharashtra.
NCERT places Pithoro in Rajasthan and Gujarat; it is most closely associated with the Rathwa community of central Gujarat and neighbouring Madhya Pradesh (Beyond NCERT).

NCERT exercise — answer outlines

Three descriptive questions. Try each first.

Q1. What are the main features of Badami cave paintings?

Context: early Chalukya capital; the Vishnu cave patronised by Mangalesha, inscription of 578–579 CE recording the dedication of a Vishnu image (Vaishnava). Survival: only a fragment on the vaulted ceiling of the front mandapa. Subject: palace scene — Kirtivarman with his queen and feudatories watching a dance; Indra and retinue in a corner. Style: extension of Ajanta — sinuous lines, fluid forms, compact composition; faces with large eye-sockets, half-closed eyes, protruding lips; contours that create volume with simple line. Significance: the link between Ajanta and the southern mural traditions; sculpture and painting made together.

Q2. Write an essay on Vijayanagara paintings.

Setting: Vijayanagara empire (14th–16th c.) from Hampi to Trichy, after Chola decline. Sites: Tiruparakunram (14th c., early phase); Hampi, Virupaksha — mandapa ceiling with dynastic history, Ramayana and Mahabharata, Vidyaranya’s palanquin procession, Vishnu’s avatars; Lepakshi (Shiva/Virabhadra temple) — Dakshinamurti, ladies attending Parvati. Style: faces in profile with large frontal eyes; narrow waists; figures and objects two-dimensional; lines still but fluid; rectilinear compartments; patterned textiles. Legacy: adopted across South India by the Nayakas (Srirangam, Tiruvarur, Chidambaram, Chengam) and partly by Kerala painters. Value: records of court, costume, religion and royal self-image (Vidyaranya).

Q3. Describe the mural traditions of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Tamil Nadu: Pallava (Mahendravarman I — Vichitrachitta, Chitrakarapuli; Panamalai Devi; Rajasimha’s Kanchipuram Somaskanda — round faces, rhythmic ornamented line); Pandya (Tirumalaipuram; Jain Sittanavasal — dancing nymphs, red outline, yellow bodies, elongated eyes); Chola (Brihadeswara, Thanjavur, under a Nayak layer — Shiva as Tripurantaka and Nataraja, Rajaraja and his mentor; sinuous line); Nayaka (17th–18th c.; Srirangam, Tiruvarur — Muchukunda; Chidambaram — Bhikshatana, Mohini; Chengam — 60 Ramayana panels; Tiruvalanjuli Nataraja; extension of Vijayanagara). Kerala (16th–18th c.): own language drawing on Nayaka and Vijayanagara elements, Kathakali and kalam ezhuthu; vibrant luminous colour, three-dimensional figures; local epics; 60+ sites — temples (Pundareekapuram, Triprayar, Vadakkunnathan) and palaces (Mattancherry, Krishnapuram, Padmanabhapuram). Compare: Tamil — line and narrative compartments; Kerala — colour and fullness.

What to remember

Numbers

Badami inscription (Vishnu cave)578–579 CE

Early Chalukya rule (NCERT)543–598 CE (standard: to c. 753 CE)

Mahendravarman I7th century CE

Mahendravarman’s titles in NCERT3: Vichitrachitta, Chitrakarapuli, Chaityakari

Sittanavasal paintings (NCERT)9th century CE, early Pandya

Chola rule9th–13th century; zenith 11th century

Layers at Brihadeswara2: Chola (lower), Nayak 16th c. (upper)

Vijayanagara14th–16th century; capital Hampi

Tiruparakunram paintings14th and 17th century

Nayaka paintings (NCERT)17th–18th century

Chengam Ramayana panels60

Kerala murals16th–18th century

Kerala mural sites60+, including 3 palaces

One-liners

Badami: Mangalesha’s Vishnu cave, 578 CE; Kirtivarman watching a dance; Ajanta-like.
Mahendravarman I: Vichitrachitta, Chitrakarapuli, Chaityakari; Mandagapattu inscription.
Panamalai Devi; Kanchipuram Somaskanda (Rajasimha).
Sittanavasal: Jain caves; dancing nymphs; red outlines, yellow bodies; lotus pond.
Brihadeswara: Chola paintings under a Nayak layer; Shiva, Rajaraja and his mentor.
Vijayanagara: profile faces, frontal eyes, flat figures, compartments; Hampi, Lepakshi.
Nayaka: Srirangam, Tiruvarur (Muchukunda), Chidambaram, Chengam (60 Ramayana panels).
Kerala: Kathakali + kalam ezhuthu cues; luminous colour; local epics; Mattancherry, Padmanabhapuram.
Living murals: Pithoro, Mithila (Bihar), Warli (Maharashtra).

Traps to avoid

Badami’s 578 CE Vishnu cave is Cave 3 in standard accounts; NCERT says Cave 4.
The early Chalukyas did not end in 598 CE; they ruled till c. 753 CE.
Panamalai and Kanchipuram Kailasanatha are usually Rajasimha’s, not Mahendravarman I’s.
The Pallavas were rivals of the Chalukyas, not their successors; ‘Pandava’ in the heading means Pandya.
Sittanavasal: Jain; NCERT dates it Pandya (9th c.), older books Pallava.
Brihadeswara: Chola layer below, Nayak layer above.
Lepakshi (Andhra Pradesh) = Vijayanagara paintings; Sanchi has no murals (UPSC 2013).
‘Bukkaraya Harsha’ in NCERT = Bukka Raya.
Tiruparakunram ‘near Trichy’ with Mahavira paintings is usually identified as Tiruparuttikunram near Kanchipuram.
Madhubani = Bihar; Warli = Maharashtra.

How to strategise

Prelims — what UPSC asks

Sites and dynasties: Lepakshi — Vijayanagara paintings (1990), Ajanta and Lepakshi known for murals, Sanchi not (2013), Panamalai — Pallava and Badami — Chalukya (1997), Sittanavasal — Jain cave shrine (2023).
Rulers: Mahendravarman I’s titles (2025). Folk: Madhubani — Bihar (2009).
Not in this chapter: the Hallisalasya painting of the Bagh caves (2026) — Bagh is described in Chapter 4, but neither chapter names that painting (it shows a group dance, the key’s ‘joyous folk dance’).

Mains — where it appears and how to answer

No Mains question has yet been set on these murals; prepare a 150-word note on ‘continuity and change in South Indian mural painting from Badami to Kerala’ using the relay flow and the style grid.
Frame: dynasty and patron → site and surface → themes → line, colour and composition → what changed and what continued.

Self-check

Tap an option. NCERT's own exercise questions come first; the rest test the figures and common confusions.

1. The Badami cave painting of the 6th century shows:

2. Which Pallava king took the titles Vichitrachitta and Chitrakarapuli?

3. The Sittanavasal paintings belong to a:

4. At the Brihadeswara temple, Thanjavur, the Chola paintings were found:

5. Which feature is typical of Vijayanagara murals?

6. Lepakshi, known for Vijayanagara paintings, is in:

7. Kerala mural painters took cues from:

UPSC questions from this chapter

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Prelims

6 questions · newest first

2025Prelims GSWho among the following rulers in ancient India had assumed the titles Mattavilasa', Vichitrachitta' and 'Gunabhara'?Attempt →2023Prelims GSConsider the following pairs : How many of the above pairs are correctly matched? Site Well known for 1. Besnagar Shaivite cave shrine 2. Bhaja Buddhist cave shrine 3. Sittanavasal Jain cave shrineAttempt →2013Prelims GSConsider the following historical places : 1. Ajanta Caves 2. Lepakshi Temple 3. Sanchi Stupa Which of the above places is/are also known for mural paintings?Attempt →2009Prelims GSConsider the following pairs : Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched ? Tradition State 1. Gatka, a traditional martial art Kerala 2. Madhubani, a traditional painting Bihar 3. Singhey Khababs Sindhu Darshan Festival Jammu and KashmirAttempt →1997Prelims GSMatch List I with List II and select the correct answer by using the code given below the lists : Codes: List I List II I. Gupta (A) Badami II. Chandela (B) Panamalai III. Chalukya (C) Khajuraho IV. Pallava (D) DeogarhAttempt →1990Prelims GSMatch List I with List II and select the correct answer using the codes given below them : List I List II (Place) (Importance) A. Bhubaneshwar 1. Vijayanagara architecture B. Konark 2. Rajarani temple C. Lepakshi 3. Vijayanagara paintings D. Halebid 4. Hoysala monument 5. Sun templeAttempt →

Mains

0 questions

6 Prelims and 0 Mains UPSC questions are linked to this chapter. More from An Introduction to Indian Art – Part I.