As in ancient times the Temples of south india were painted with natural colours, telling the stories of Puranas or mahatmiyas of the local place. Especially in the area of Srirangam a lot of input of rural painting were given. But somehow this tradtion stopped out of sudden in the last century. Most probably the ingredients of the natural colours or the recipes of the mixture got lost. Or maybe the painters didnt get much payed for, so they looked for some other opportunity to get their household together. But anyhow it is very sad to see the conditions of those temples with the paintings fading away. Especially if you visit the temple of Ranganayaki in Sri Rangam sanctum sanctorum. In the outer prakara there was wallpaintings all over the place. One could find the story of all Vishnu Avatars, the Alwarstories and the appearance of Lord Ranganatha in this world - in very detail. From the floor up to the roof ceiling!!! Here you see only few pics from the roof i made with a high resolution camera. Imagine it is all in dark halls, lot of bats flying around, and poorly maintained... so anybody has a good idea to reestablish those paintings?
