APPROPRIATION AND INDIGENIZATION OF CHRISTIAN IMAGERY IN CHURCH MURALS OF KERALA

The main objective of this book becomes an investigation on the significance of murals seen on Syrian Christian churches in Kerala and discovering the nature of indigenization present within them. Kerala has several churches with elaborate murals which, have not received sufficient attention, and quite a few questions remain unexplored. Some of the questions I hope to address are: Why do these churches have murals? What roles did they serve? What are the themes depicted on the church murals? What is the relevance of the themes portrayed? Some of the themes represented have relevance in theology, some in church history and a few in the local history. What is the source for iconology and iconography followed by these images? What are the stylistic idioms used in these murals? What were the inspirations/ influences behind this style?