East Indian Paintings

East India has been long proclaimed as a hotbed for various Art movements –from the ancient Patta paintings to the Modern works of Jamini Roy and Nanda Lal Bose, Eastern India has seen the development of an eclectic array of art forms.

Art, it seems floats in the air of Eastern India.

Patta Chitra of Orissa

Patta Chitra of Orissa is an ancient art form, which was practiced in Orissa. This art form was an offshoot of written communication on palm leaves. In the pre paper days messages and letters were etched out on palm leaves and dispatched. Slowly the text began to be embellished with illustrations. Theses illustrations became an art form itself.

Mythological themes dominate most pattachitras; scenes from the Hindu epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata are lovingly depicted. Local legends and folklore too find their way into the paintings. Radha and Krishna, Durga, Ganesha and Saraswati are the most commonly used Gods and Goddesses.

Patua Paintings of West Bengal

Patua Paintings of West Bengal are sheets of paper sewn together and painted upon. These scrolls narrate mythological stories and in recent times they have incorporated other themes to cater to the changing taste of their customers. In recent times they have dealt with historical events, ecological disasters such as storms and floods, and commentary on social issues.

They were once painted on cloth, but are now executed on cheap handmade paper. The scrolls are almost always unmounted. The size of the scroll paintings varies, they can be as short as four feet, and as long as fifty feet, however the average length of a Pata is around fifteen feet. A Pata is divided into vertical compartments, again not always of equal length, and each compartment narrates a different episode of the story.

Patas are painted by Patuas of West Bengal who are interesting anomalies. They are an endogamous caste whose religion is difficult to determine, for they follow both Hindu and Muslim customs. Muslim rituals mark all their important ceremonies but they paint Hindu stories in their scrolls and also observe a number of Hindu Festivals.

The Patuas visit villages and go from house to house with their bag of scrolls. They narrate stories while unrolling the scrolls; in return of his services he is paid in cash or kind.

Most Patuas happen to be men and there are few, if any, women Patuas.