Pattachitra

Pattachitra
Name	Pattachitra
Country	India
Region	Odisha, West Bengal
Genre	Traditional scroll painting

Pattachitra Pattachitra is a traditional Indian scroll painting tradition originating in eastern India, closely associated with temple cults, pilgrimage networks, and artisanal guilds. It is practiced principally in Odisha, West Bengal, and among diasporic communities linked to major pilgrimage centers such as Jagannath Temple, Puri, and Konark Sun Temple. The craft intersects with temples, royal patronage, itinerant performance, and modern museum collections including those of the Victoria and Albert Museum, British Museum, and National Museum, New Delhi.

History and Origins

The practice dates to medieval and early modern periods, with antecedents in temple murals at Konark Sun Temple, Bhubaneswar shrines, and manuscript painting traditions of the Pala Empire and Ganga dynasty. Early documentation appears in chronicles associated with the Jagannath cult and travelogues of Ibn Battuta and Francis Buchanan-Hamilton, while colonial ethnographers such as E. B. Havell and Ananda Coomaraswamy discussed its links to ritual performance. Pattachitra developed alongside related forms like Chitrakar manuscript painting, Kalighat painting in Kolkata, and South Indian temple painting schools connected to the Vijayanagara Empire and Maratha patronage. Guild structures resembled artisan communities described in the Manusmriti commentaries and later in colonial reports by the Imperial Gazetteer of India.

Materials and Techniques

Artists prepare a textile or palm-leaf support using techniques comparable to those in manuscript traditions found in Tawaraya Sōtatsu-era works and Deccan miniature practices. The support—often cotton—undergoes coating with a paste derived from gum and chalk similar to processes described in conservation manuals at institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution and Getty Conservation Institute. Natural pigments come from mineral and vegetable sources paralleling supplies catalogued in the Rietberg Museum and chemical analyses by the Indian National Science Academy. Brushes are traditionally bamboo or squirrel-hair types akin to tools in Mughal painting and Rajput painting. Iconographic designs follow canonical treatises used in Pancharatra and Shilpa Shastra traditions maintained by temple workshops in Puri and Bhadrak.

Styles and Regional Variations

Distinct schools include the Odisha style centered on Puri and Raghurajpur, and the Bengal style around Kolkata and Nabadwip. Raghurajpur artists maintain hereditary lineages comparable to artisan families recorded in the Census of India ethnographic appendices, while Bengal variations show influence from Company style painting and colonial printshops such as those run by Ghulam Ali Khan. Convergences occur with Madhubani painting from Mithila and Tanjore painting from Thanjavur owing to market exchanges involving museums like the National Gallery of Modern Art (India) and collectors including John Forbes Watson.

Themes and Iconography

Common narratives derive from epic and puranic cycles: scenes from the Mahabharata, Ramayana, and episodes centered on Jagannath, Krishna, Vishnu, Durga, and Sita. Depictions incorporate motifs from Linga worship and agricultural festivals like Ratha Yatra, and visual formulas reflect guidelines from Agama texts and the iconometry used in Odisha style temple sculpture. Compositional elements mirror narratives found in works by playwrights such as Kavi Kalanidhi and poets associated with the Bhakti movement including Jayadeva and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Colors often signify theological attributes comparable to chromatic symbolism in Tantra manuscripts and Vaishnavism devotional prints.

Notable Artists and Workshops

Prominent lineages include the Raghurajpur community of master craftspeople whose members are documented in exhibitions at the Crafts Museum, New Delhi and grants from the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. Individual practitioners who achieved recognition appear in ethnographic surveys and award lists such as the Padma Shri and National Handicrafts Award. Workshops that influenced market forms included those collaborating with collectors like O. C. Ganguli and institutions such as the Sangeet Natak Akademi, while contemporary curators from the International Council of Museums have featured Pattachitra in global surveys of folk arts.

Contemporary Practice and Revival

Since the 20th century, revival initiatives by figures linked to the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, state cultural departments of Odisha and West Bengal, and NGOs such as the Dastkar network have integrated Pattachitra into craft economies, tourism circuits, and art-school curricula at institutions like the Kala Bhavana and Faculty of Visual Arts, Banaras Hindu University. Exhibitions at venues including the Tate Modern, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and regional biennales prompted collaborations with designers from IIM Ahmedabad incubators and fashion houses in Mumbai. Conservation challenges addressed by the National Museum Institute and international partners like the British Council focus on material stability, market authentication, and intellectual property frameworks under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999.

Category:Arts of India