Art Of The Earth

About Bengal Patachitra

Traditional Art of Bengal

Patchitra from Bengal is painted in a scroll form and is one of the oldest living traditions of story- telling using the audio visual method, dating back to almost 2000 years. Bards and storytellers would go from village to village narrating the stories through song and as the story unfolds, each corresponding scene is unfolded in the scroll. The paintings are made on paper glued to layers of cotton cloth, usually old saris, with a natural glue and chalk to create leather like surface. The colours used are all natural stone or vegetable colours and the brushes are made of various animal hairs, depending on the thickness required. The themes are usually of the Ramayana, Mahabhaarat, Sita Haran, Manasa Mangal, Chandi Mangal, history of the Santhals etc. These days the chitrakars touch on current topics such as the evils of the dowry system, global warming, de-forestation, AIDS, cancer etc. The paintings displayed depict the marriage between frogs. Montu Chitrakar has been practicing the patachitra art form for the past 34 years. Both his parents were Chitrakars or artists. He trained under his brother, Gurupada Chitrakar. He has participated in numerous shows in India as well as abroad.