Pattachitra

Patachitra or Pattachitra is a general term for traditional,

Pattachitra or Patachitra
cloth-based scroll painting,[7] based in the eastern Indian
states of Odisha,[8][9] West Bengal[10] and parts of Geographical indication
Bangladesh. Patachitra artform is known for its intricate
details as well as mythological narratives and folktales
inscribed in it. Pattachitra is one of the ancient artworks of
Odisha, originally created for ritual use and as souvenirs for
pilgrims to Puri, as well as other temples in Odisha.[11]
Patachitras are a component of an ancient Bengali narrative
art, originally serving as a visual device during the
performance of a song.[12]

Etymology
In the Sanskrit, paṭṭa means "cloth" and chitra means
"picture". Most of these paintings depict stories of Hindu
deities.[13]

Odisha Pattachitra
Pattachitra is a traditional painting of Odisha, India.[1] These
paintings are based on Hindu mythology and specially
inspired by Jagannath and Vaishnava sect.[14] All colours
used in the Paintings are natural and paintings are made
fully old traditional way by Chitrakaras that is Odiya Painter.
Pattachitra style of painting is one of the oldest and most
popular art forms of Odisha. The name Pattachitra has
evolved from the Sanskrit words patta, meaning canvas, and
chitra, meaning picture. Pattachitra is thus a painting done
on canvas, and is manifested by rich colourful application,
creative motifs, and designs, and portrayal of simple themes,
mostly mythological in depiction.[15] The traditions of
pattachitra paintings are more than thousand years old.
[16][17]

Odisha Pattachitra (top) depicting Radha

Krishna and West Bengal Patachitra
(bottom) depicting Durga.
 Alternative names OD: ପଟ୍ଟଚିତ୍ର BN:
পটিচত্র
Description Patachitra (or
Pattachitra in
Odisha) is an old
traditional art of
Odisha and Bengal
Area
Raghurajpur,
Puri, Danda
Sahi,
Parlakhemundi,
Chikiti,
Digapahandi,
Sonepur,
Dharakote,
(Odisha)[1][2]
Birbhum, West
Study of a Pattachitra painting depicting the Midnapore,
Gopis on the banks of the Yamuna, circa 1550. Nayagram of
Odisha.
Pingla block in
Jhargram,
Bardhaman,
Origin Murshidabad
district and
The paintings of Odisha
can be divided into three Kalighat region
categories from the point (West
of view of medium, i.e. Bengal)[3][4]
paintings on cloth or Bikrampur
'Patta Chitra', paintings (Bangladesh) [5]
on walls or 'Bhitti Chitra'
and palm leaf engravings Country India, Bangladesh [6]
or "Tala Patra Chitra' or Registered
"Pothi, Chitra'.[18] The Odisha
Pattachitra painting of Raga style of all these remains Pattachitra: 10
Kodaba of Odissi music depicted in more or less the same at a July 2008
the form of two lovers. Pigment on specific time because the Bengal
cloth, 16 x 12cm, Odisha, mid- then artists were
nineteenth century. Private
Patachitra: 28
commissioned to work in March 2018
collection
all these media, it is
believed. Material Cloth, Palm leaf,
Paper, Color, Theme
The painting the 'pattachitra' resemble the old murals of
Official website ipindiaservices.gov.in
Odisha especially religious centres of Puri, Konark and
(http://www.ipindia.ni
Bhubaneshwar region, dating back to the 5th century BC.
The best work is found in and around Puri, especially in the c.in/registered-gls.ht
village of Raghurajpur.[19] m)
This old tradition of Odia painting still survives in places like Puri,
Raghurajpur, Paralakhemundi, Chikiti and Sonepur. Lord
Jagannath in the present from is being taken as the origin of the
Patta style. The colour schemes of the deities of Puri are quite
similar to those of the Patta style. The oldest record of Patta
Paintings does not probably go beyond the establishment of the
present shrine of Shri Jagannath at Puri. It may be due to the fact
that paintings do not survive like sculptures. The paints inside the
shrines of Lord Jagannath at Puri make the date probable. The
oldest classical marble paintings of Sitabanji at Keonjhar do not
conform to the present style of Patta painting wholly. The wooden
statues of the three deities are also covered with cloth and then
overlaid with glue mixed with chalk, and then given paint only with
four limited colours of red, yellow, white and black. The deities
who are held in high esteem by the Odias and who inspire religion,
life and activity of the people also carry with them a tradition of art
and painting which is as old as the deities themselves. If the Savara
origin of Jagannath is accepted, the date of the Patta paintings can
be dated back to an earlier period. These paintings were originally
substitutes for worship on days when the idols were kept away
from the public after their ritual bath. [20]
Large earthen pot with the outer
surface and the lid painted with
Theme and style Pattachitra, Odisha Museum, India.

The theme of Odia painting centres round the Jagannath and the
Vaishnava sect. Since beginning of Pattachitra culture, Lord
Jagannath who was an incarnation of Lord Krishna has been the
major source of inspiration. The subject matter of Pattachitra is
mostly mythological, religious stories and folk lore. Themes are
chiefly on Lord Jagannath and Radha-Krishna, different "Vesas" of
Shri Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra, temple activities, the
ten incarnations of Vishnu basing on the 'Gita Govinda' of Jayadev,
Kama Kujara Navagunjara, Ramayana, Mahabharata.[21] The
individual paintings of gods and goddesses are also being painted.
Pattachitra made on palm leaf,
The Pattachitra style are mix of both folk and classical elements Odisha.
but leanings more towards folk forms. The dress style has Mughal
influences. All of the poses have been confined to a few well-
defined postures. These are not free from monotonous repetitions,
though at times this is necessary to accentuate the narrative
character of the style. The lines are bold and clean and angular and
sharp. Generally, there are no landscapes, perspectives, and
distant views. All the incidents are seen in close juxtaposition. The
background on which the figures are represented, is delineated
with decorations of flowers and foliages and is mostly painted in
Pattachitra of Lord Jagarnath
red colour. All the paintings are given decorative borders. The
whole painting is conceived in the form of a design on a given
canvas.

The themes may be classified into following categories[22]

 Jagannath paintings
Vaishnav Paintings
Bhagabat paintings
Ramayana paintings
Saiva paintings
Shakta paintings
Paintings as legends
Ragachitras
Bandhachitra
Yamapati and yatripatas – (sketches of puri temple) Ganjapa playing card paintings and other
socials themes on paintings.
Navagunjara[23]

Technique

Modern-day Pattachitra depicting Kanchi Bijaya. Pattachitras were inspired by Jagannath culture in
Odisha

Traditionally the painters are known as chitrakars. A patta

painter's home with all the members of family is his studio.
Woman members prepare the glue, the canvas and apply colours
what we call the fill-in, and give the final lacquer coating. The
master hand, mostly the male member, draws the initial line and
gives the final finishing.

Patta paintings are done on small strips of cotton cloth. The canvas
is prepared by coating the clothing with a mixture of chalk and Sankhanabhi Pata, Pattachitra map
gum made from Guar or tamarind seeds. Then it is rubbed by of the Puri temple, with many
taking the help of two different stones and then the cloth is dried. human and sacred figures,
The mixture of gum and chalk gives the cloth's surface a leathery buildings and animals. By a painter
finish on which the artists paint with vegetable, earth and stone of Puri, Odisha, ca. 1880/1910.

colours.[24]

The painters do not use pencil or charcoal for the preliminary drawings. They are so expert in the line
that they simply draw directly with the brush either in light red or yellow. Then the colours are filled
in. The final lines are drawn and the patta is given a lacquer coating to protect it from weather, thus
making the painting glossy. This process of glazing or varnishing is quite interesting. The painting is
held over a fireplace so that the back of the painting is exposed to heat. On the surface of the painting
fine lacquer is applied.

Colour

Pattachitras are painted in five natural colours - Hingula, Haritala, Kala, Sankha and Geru. There are
typical scenes and figures like Krishna, Gopis, elephants, trees and other creatures are seen in these
paintings. Krishna is always painted in blue and Gopis in light pink, purple or brown colours.[25]

The painters use vegetable and mineral colours without going for factory-made poster colours. They
prepare their own colours.[26] White colour is made from the conch-shells by powdering, boiling and
filtering in a very hazardous process. It requires a lot of patience. But this process gives brilliance and
premanence to the hue. 'Hingula', a mineral colour, is used for red. 'Haritala', king of stone
ingredients for yellow, 'Ramaraja' a sort of indigo for blue are being used. Pure lamp-black or black
prepared from the burning of coconut shells are used.[27] There was no blue either cobalt or
ultramarine in the earlier colour schemes. The colours used in the Patta paintings are primarily bright
colours, limited to red, yellow, indigo, black and white. The brushes that are used by these
'Chitrakaras' are also indigenous and are made of hair of domestic animals. A bunch of hair tied to the
end of a bamboo stick make the brush.[28]

Palm leaf Pattachitra

Palm leaf pattachitra which is in Oriya language known as Tala Pattachitra drawn on palm leaf. First
of all palm leaves are left for becoming hard after being taken from the tree. Then these are sewn
together to form like a canvas. The images are traced by using black or white ink to fill grooves etched
on rows of equal-sized panels of palm leaf that are sewn together. These panels can also be easily
folded like a fan and packed in a compact pile for better conservation. Often palm-leaf illustrations are
more elaborated, obtaining by superimposing layers that are glued together for most of the surface,
but in some areas can open like small windows to reveal a second image under the first layer.[29]
 Tala-pattachitra, palm leaf manuscript illustrating Labanyabati of Kabi Samrata Upendra Bhanja. Left
detail, India, Odisha, late 18th century - Hanuman and Bharata at Nandigrama (verso) - 1979.21.b -
Cleveland Museum of Art.

Gallery

Tala Pattachitra, palm leaf

Papier-mâché mask of Wooden Ramalila masks painting showing the
Goddess Kali painted in the painted in the Pattachitra architectural plan of the Sun
Pattachitra idiom, Kala style, Kala Bhoomi Odisha Temple of Konark, Odisha.
Bhoomi Odisha Crafts Crafts Museum,
Museum, Bhubaneswar. Bhubaneswar.

Wooden statuettes painted in Prabha of Devi Subhadra's Modern wall mural of

the Pattachitra style, Kala Ratha, Puri, Odisha. Narasimha in a street of Puri,
Bhoomi Odisha Crafts Odisha.
Museum, Bhubaneswar.

Bengal Patachitra
The Bengal Patachitra refers to the painting of West Bengal and Bangladesh. It is a traditional and
mythological heritage of West Bengal. The Bengal Patachitra is divided into some different aspects like
Durga Pat, Chalchitra, Tribal Patachitra, Medinipur Patachitra, and Kalighat Patachitra.[30] The
subject matter of Bengal Patachitra is mostly mythological, religious stories, folk lore and social. The
Kalighat Patachitra, the last tradition of Bengal Patachitra is developed by Jamini Roy. The artist of
the Bengal Patachitra is called Patua.[31]
Patachitra of Naya village in West Bengal is now collected in National Museum of Ethnology
(henceforth MNE) in Lisbon.[32]

The Bengal Patachitra

Patachitra of Naya village

Patachitra of Naya village

 Goddess Durga and her family in Medinipur
Patachitra

Origin

Patachitra is known for its excellent play of colour. It is a traditional folk art form of rural Bengal.
There are some controversial opinions about the dates of ancient Patas. But it has been suggested on
the basis of historical themes connected with the accompanied songs like Patua Sangeet. It dates back
to the Pre- Pala period which is still tucked away with small villages of Midnapore, Bankura, Purulia,
Howrah, Hooghly and 24 Parganas.[33] There are some Jadu-Patuas painting of mural style in the
temples of Bankura District in West Bengal.[34]

Theme and style

There are many types of Pots like religious, secular. Religious pots encompass the story of Hindu epics
like, mythology, Ramayana, Mahabharata narrating stories of Hindu gods and goddesses like Radha
Krishna, Chaitanya, Kali, Shiba and the indigenous Bengali folklore of Manasha and Chandi, Behula
and Lakshinder being the most popular. Secular pots depicts important news events, scandals
accidents etc. such as bus accidents at Narayangarh, rural elections, the rationing system, family
planning, evils of the dowry system etc. Every Patachitra has a song related to it, which the artists sing
while unfurling the Patachitra. Singing pot in Bengal is called Patua Sangeet. Patua Sangeet or Poter
Gan is a cultural tradition of the singing Bengal Patachitra. It is performed by Patua.[35] It is famous in
the village part of West Bengal like Birbhum, Jhargram, Bardhaman and Murshidabad as a folk song
of West Bengal.[12]

Aspects of painting
Bengal Patachitra painting has a different type of motive and
aspects that unrolled the Bengali culture. Using the mythological
epic and the natural color it is one of the individual characteristics
of the Bengal Patachitra.

Chalchitra

Chalchitra is a part of Bengal Patachitra, It referred to the Debi

Chal or Durga chala, the background of the Durga Pratima or
idol.[36] Patua, the artists of Chalchitra called it as Pata Lekha,
means the writing of Patachitra.[31] 300–400 years old idols of
Nabadwip Shakta Rash used Chalchitra as a part of Pratima. At a
time, the use of Chalchitra became fade, but now it has a great
popularity.[37] Chalchitra artist of Nabadwip, Tapan Bhattacharya
said-

It's good to see a lost painting coming back around.

Durga Pot

Durga pot or Durga sara is recognised as the worshiped patachitra.

It worshiped in the Hatsarandi Sutradhar society of Birbhum
district on Durga puja time. This type of patachitra is also
worshiped is Katwa. Durga Pot has a hemispherical Patachitra
where Patachitra of Durga is in the middle position. Ram, Sita,
Patua scroll on display at
Shib, Nandi-Vringi, Brahma, Vishnu, Shumbha-Nishumbha are
Archaeological activities exhibition
painted on this kind of Chalchitra. Krishnanager Rajrajeshwari
of Bengal Patachitra
Durga is seen to be uniquely noticed. In the middle of the
Chalchitra, there is Panchanan Shib and Parvati is beside him, on
one side there is Dasha-mahabidya and the other side, there is
Dashabatar.[38]

Technique

The Patachitra of different districts of West Bengal are

characterized by many peculiarities in colour and design. The
patachitra of Manbhum, now known as Purulia can easily be
distinguished by their preference for one particular shade of burnt
sienna relieved by white and yellow patches and densely packed
composition. The seated figures of Dasaratha and Chand Sadagar
of Medinipur crowning the Ramayana and Kamale-Kamini scrolls
are impressive and monumental.[39] In the scrolls of pot of
Birbhum, Bankura and Burdwan preference for Indian red

Jadupatua painting
 background usually found, the scrolls
of Hooghly preferred a dark brown.
The Hooghly and Manbhum 'pats'
are peculiar and definitely
modernistic with the abstract linear
treatment.[40]

Performing the Patua
Sangeet by a Patua during
an international conference
in Kolkata
Colour
Chalchitra, a part of Bengal
Use of natural color is one of the Patachitra, referred to the
individual characteristics of the background Patachitra of the Durga
Bengal Patachitra. In general, blue, Pratima
yellow, green, red, brown, black and
white are used in the Patachitra of
West Bengal. Chalk dust is used for
white color, pauri for yellow color,
cultivated indigo for blue, bhushakali
for black and mete sindur for red
color.[41]

Artists

Bengal Patua artists carry the occupational surname of 'Chitrakar'.

They are concentrated in the village of Naya in Medinipur district
of West Bengal. Prominent artists include Khandu and Radha
Durga sara, an aspect of Bengal
Chitrakar and their children Bapi, Samir, Prabir, Laltu, Tagar,
Patachitra
Mamoni and Laila Chitrakar. Monimala is known for her use of
bold, primal colours and the development of her own iconographic
style.[42]

References
Citations

1. http://odisha.gov.in/e-magazine/Orissareview/2010/November/engpdf/46-48.pdf Archived (https://

web.archive.org/web/20170110190425/http://odisha.gov.in/e-magazine/Orissareview/2010/Novem
ber/engpdf/46-48.pdf) 10 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine
2. "Orissa Pattachitra" (https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-in-school/orissa-pattachitra/article
14422369.ece). Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20211122102657/https://www.thehindu.co
m/todays-paper/tp-in-school/orissa-pattachitra/article14422369.ece) from the original on 22
November 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
3. Bose, Nirmal Kumar. 1953. Folk religion of Bengal, part I number I (A study of the Vrata rites).C.
Kar, Benoy Bose Road, Calcutta, India
4. "Patachitra: Ancient scroll painting of Bengal" (https://mediaindia.eu/art-culture/patachitra-ancient-
scroll-painting-of-bengal/). Media India Group. 26 April 2017. Archived (https://web.archive.org/we
b/20180519120435/https://mediaindia.eu/art-culture/patachitra-ancient-scroll-painting-of-bengal/)
from the original on 19 May 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
5. https://archive.thedailystar.net/starinsight/2006/09/02/cover.htm