Pattachitra Painting

Pattachitra arts is a form of fabric painting known for its intricate details as well as mythological narratives and folktales inscribed in it.

 Pattachitra is one of the ancient artworks of Odisha ,Bengal & Bangladesh. In Sanskrit, the word paṭṭa means “cloth” and chitra means “picture”. Most of these paintings depict stories of Hindu mythology.

 This ancient painting art is a general term for traditional, cloth-based scroll painting, based in the eastern Indian states of Odisha, West Bengal and parts of Bangladesh.

There are chiefly two important categories of pattachitra painting- Odisha pattachitra and Bengal pattachitra.

Hisory

Originally this art form was created for ritual use and as souvenirs for pilgrims to Puri, as well as other temples in Odisha.

Patachitras are also a component of an ancient Bengali narrative art, originally serving as a visual device during the performance of a song.

Charanachitras, Mankhas, Yamapatas were ancient form of paintings out of which Pattachitra paintings seem to be evolved. Pattachitra  paintings are over  more than thousand years old.

Odisha pattachitra painting

Pattachitra style of painting is one of the oldest and most popular art forms of Odisha. Most of the paintings depicts Hindu mythology stories. They seem to be inspired by Jagannath and Vaishnava sect. All colours used in the Paintings are natural and paintings are made in old traditional way by Chitrakaras or Odiya Painter.

 There are different categories of Pattachitra  from the point of view of medium used  for painting, i.e. paintings on cloth are called ‘Patta Chitra’ .

Paintings  on walls are known as ‘Bhitti Chitra’ and paintings on palm leaf engravings as “Tala Patra Chitra’ or “Pothi, Chitra’.

 The style of all the three painting arts remains more or less the same at a specific time as then the artists were commissioned to work in all these media.

The pattachitra paintings are similar to the old murals of Odisha particularly of religious centres of Puri, Konark and Bhubaneshwar region [ 5th century BC]. The oldest record of Pattachitra Paintings is related to the time of establishment of the shrine of Shri Jagannath temple at Puri. However, the oldest classical marble paintings of Sitabanji at Keonjhar do not conform to the present style of Patta painting wholly.

Pattachitra themes

The theme of Odia Pattachitra painting mostly portrays Lord Jagannath and the Vaishnava sect of Hindu mythology. Lord Jagannath is believed as an incarnation of Lord Krishna. The theme also include Balabhadra and Subhadra, temple activities, the ten incarnations of Vishnu basing on the ‘Gita Govinda’ of Jayadev, Kama Kujara Navagunjara, Ramayana, Mahabharata. The dress style portrayed in the paintings has Mughal influences.

The background on which the figures are represented in pattachitra  is delineated with decorations of flowers and foliages and is mostly painted in red colour. All the paintings are given decorative borders.

Pattachitra painting method

  Pattachitra paintings are done on small strips of cotton cloth. The canvas is prepared by coating the clothing with a mixture of chalk and gum made from Guar or tamarind seeds. Then it is rubbed by taking the help of two different stones and then the cloth is dried. The mixture of gum and chalk gives the cloth’s surface a leathery finish on which the artists paint with vegetable, earth and stone colours.

The chitrakar or painter simply draw over the cloth canvas made, with the brush either in light red or yellow colour. Then the colours are filled in. The final lines are drawn and the painting is given a lacquer coating to protect it from weather, thus making the painting glossy. 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.

The  pattachitra painters prepare their own colours or paints. White colour is made from the conch-shells by powdering, boiling and filtering through a complicated process. Although  this process  requires great effort and patience it gives brilliance and permanence 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 in pattachitra painting. Pure lamp-black or black colour is prepared from the burning of coconut shell.

The brushes that are used by the painters of this art form are also indigenous and are made of hair of domestic animals. A bunch of hair tied to the end of a bamboo stick and the brush is made.

Palm leaf Pattachitra

Palm leaf pattachitra which is in Oriya language known as Tala Pattachitra drawn on palm leaf. The palm leaves are plucked and left for becoming hard. 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.

Bengal Patachitra

The Bengal Patachitra refers to the ancient painting art of West Bengal and Bangladesh. It is a traditional and mythological heritage of West Bengal. The Bengal Patachitra is categorized into various types like Durga Pat, Chalchitra, Tribal Patachitra, Medinipur Patachitra, and Kalighat Patachitra.

 The theme 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.

These religious pots[ painting] 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 .

Secular pots depict 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  Bengal 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 famous in the village part of West Bengal like Birbhum, Jhargram, Bardhaman and Murshidabad as a folk song of West Bengal.

Chalchitra is a part of Bengal Patachitra, It referred to the Debi Chal or Durga chala, the background of the Durga Pratima or idol.

 Patua or  the artists of Chalchitra called it as Pata Lekha, means the writing of Patachitra. 300–400 years old idols of Nabadwip Shakta Rash used Chalchitra as a part of Pratima.

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, Shib, Nandi-Vringi, Brahma, Vishnu, Shumbha-Nishumbha are painted on this kind of Chalchitra. These paintings have elements of symbolism and cultural significance.

Use of natural color is one of the individual characteristics of the Bengal Patachitra. In general, blue, 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.

The seated figures of Dasaratha and Chand Sadagar of Medinipur crowning the Ramayana and Kamale-Kamini scrolls are impressive and monumental.

Bengal Patua artists carry the occupational surname of ‘Chitrakar’. They are concentrated in the village of Naya in Medinipur district of West Bengal.

References

• https://odisha.gov.in/odisha-tourism/patta-chitra
• https://thigma.art/en/bengali-patachitra-the-vibrant-world-of-folk-art/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattachitra
• image courtesy -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattachitra#/media/File:Patta_Chitra_01.jpg