Restoration Work

The main work immediately he did after his 5 years of gurukula study was mural paintings of Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple mural works in Thiruvananthapuram.

Enthusiastic Saju energetically participated in each stage of Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple mural painting until his guru passed away.

He remembers it as a period of uncertainty .Saju fingered a loss of a light which always accompany him in darkness. He overcame this empty feeling by devoting more time in art. He thus started to participate in famous churches paintings and temples paintings all over Kerala and south India.

In 1994-5 Saju participated in Piravom Pazhoor temple mural paintings for Kerala State Department of Archaeology. The temple can be dated to 12th century AD. Considering the structural and mural importance, the temple was declared as protected monument by the Kerala State Department of Archaeology in 1994.

He actively participated in Ettumanoor Mahadevar temple mural painting restoration in 1995 which was also under the guidance of Velayudhan Nair.

The most outstanding among Ettumanoor Mahadevar temple mural painting is the mural of Siva as Nataraja. The painting is quite large, measuring 360 cms in width and 217 cms in height. The late Ananda Coomaraswamy in An Introduction to Indian Art (1913) had pointed out that this Nataraja painting is the only existing specimen of the old Dravidian style of painting. The largest sized painting in inner and outer walls of the entrance of Ettumanoor Mahadevar Temple are really astonishing. Coomaraswamy’s claim that the Ettumanoor murals are the earliest examples of Dravidian mural art stands disputed since the discovery of Chittanavasal and Kanchipuram (7th century).Time after time Saju accomplished many temple works all over Kerala and south India.His interest and indirect support for Aranmula Parthasarathy Temple paintings was a considerable efferent on time.

Guruvayoor paintings and Thuravoor mahadeva temple conservation work were a big break in Kerala Mural Painting history as well as in his career.

He was initiated for the restoration of 350 year old mural work for Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit,Kaladi fine Arts Consortium under the guidance of Dr .M J Bhushan .This consortium was first of its kind attempt in kerala which involve restoration and conservation of Mural Painting which gained job oriented work experience to the participants, especially students.

He completed pazhoor temple work under the supervision of famous conservationist Dr. Velayudhan.Saju Thuruthil joined in srivilliputhur andal temple mural work restoration in Tamil Nadu. Golden layers attached in the main goddess statue to complete that renovation work.

Kottayam vasudeva temple, changanacherry perunna subrahmanya swami temple , paravoor thonikadavu bhajanamadam , Thiruvarur Thiyagarajar Temple , sri shankaracharya temple in andhra , iringol jacobite church, mammiyoor temple, these are some temple paintings and Church Paintings finished by Saju Thuruthil.