Mural Paintings from Jammu: Sui and Burj Temples

in Module
Published on:

Navjot Kour

Navjot Kour is currently pursuing her PhD on the archaeological investigations of the outer plains of Jammu spanning the prehistoric and early historic periods at MSU Baroda, Vadodara. She holds two Masters degrees - one in History from the University of Jammu and another in Archaeology from Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute, Pune. A UGC-JRF Fellow in Archaeology, she is mainly interested in reconstructing the history of Jammu combining both literary and archaeological data.

Jammu is known as the city of ancient temples. One such class of temples, located in the Marh Block, is famous for its intricate mural paintings. These 19th century narrative paintings portray the epics, Puranas, Krishna Leela and so on. Their range of subjects varies from war scenes to palatial scenes, recording the minutest of details, including the type of utensils used, prevailing architectural designs and the garments in vogue. These depictions are a mirror to 19th century Jammu society. Although, the wall sized paintings are fairly well preserved they are subjected to frequent vandalism since the temples are living monuments. This module documents these temple structures and wall paintings, which despite their importance are still in obscurity.