Bengal Patuas or Chitrakars are bearers of an ancient storytelling tradition that is fast disappearing. Islamic by faith, Patua artists represent a unique and secular art tradition, earning their livelihood by telling stories from Hindu mythology, local folklore, Sufi tradition and contemporary themes, through paintings and song. READ MORE Song sung true In this video… Read more »
Manimala Chitrakar brings a strong point of view to her compositions, whether it’s the Santhal legend of creation or tales from the Ramayana
Storytelling itself has survived centuries of transformation, but Bengal Patuas or Chitrakars are bearers of an ancient storytelling tradition that is fast disappearing
The Bengal Pattachitra is a visual and oral art tradition practised by the Patuas or Chitrakars of West Bengal. They earn their livelihood by telling stories from Hindu Mythology, local folklores, Sufi tradition and contemporary themes through paintings and songs. The unfolding or playing of the Pata is called ‘Pat Khelano’, and the song through… Read more »
The Bengal Pattachitra is a visual and oral art tradition practised by the Patuas or Chitrakars of West Bengal. They earn their livelihood by telling stories from Hindu Mythology, local folklores, Sufi tradition and contemporary themes through paintings and songs. The unfolding or playing of the Pata is called ‘Pat Khelano’, and the song through… Read more »
The Bengal Pattachitra is a visual and oral art tradition practised by the Patuas or Chitrakars of West Bengal. They earn their livelihood by telling stories from Hindu Mythology, local folklores, Sufi tradition and contemporary themes through paintings and songs. The unfolding or playing of the Pata is called ‘Pat Khelano’, and the song through… Read more »
The Bengal Pattachitra is a visual and oral art tradition practised by the Patuas or Chitrakars of West Bengal. They earn their livelihood by telling stories from Hindu Mythology, local folklores, Sufi tradition and contemporary themes through paintings and songs. The unfolding or playing of the Pata is called ‘Pat Khelano’, and the song through… Read more »
Santhali Patas (scrolls) document the day-to-day life of the Santhals, a tribal community from Eastern India. These patas are also known as Chakshudan Pata or Jadu Pata, and the artists who create them are commonly called Jadu Patuas. These painted scrolls are closely linked to the tribe’s belief system and its diverse rites and rituals… Read more »
Tracing the conundrum of Modernism in India through the works of Bengal’s great painters, as they discovered themselves, both reflecting and shaping the world around them
Bengal Pattachitra or Patua is a particularly absorbent, versatile, secular form of uniquely Indian art. The narratives are drawn from Hindu mythology—both mainstream, like the Ramayana, and regional, like the Manasa cult of the east Read more here. Many of the artists are descendants of Partition refugees and Islamic by faith. Uprooted from their lives… Read more »
Primarily located in the villages of Bengal’s Midnapore region, the chitrakar community or patuas have been creating exquisite narrative scrolls on handmade paper for generations. These scrolls (or patas) depict stories from various religious myths and local legends. This object, the Manasa pata, is a contemporary take on the traditional scrolls. It uses a largely… Read more »
PATTA PRIMER It’s a practice so ancient, precise and rooted in faith, the art it produces is considered worthy of worship. Like all living traditions, Odisha’s Pattachitra too has its fables, customs and idiosyncrasies. READ MORE EYES RIGHT Thanks to its harmonious play of colours, pleasing symmetry and recognisably Indian motifs, a Pattachitra is a joy… Read more »
The Pattachitra tradition practiced in Odisha and West Bengal is the art of creating religious paintings on fabric, walls, palm leaves or manuscripts. The tradition grew out of ornamenting the sanctum sanctorum of the Jagannatha Temple in Puri, Odisha and eventually spilled out onto different surfaces. Pattachitras were originally created by the chitrakara class of… Read more »
The patachitra tradition practiced in Orissa and West Bengal is the art of creating religious paintings on cloth, wall, palm-leaf or manuscripts. The tradition grew out of ornamenting the sanctum sanctorum of the Jagannatha Temple in Puri, eventually branching out into other domains. They were originally created by the artist (chitrakara) class of Orissa called… Read more »
The Bengal Pattachitra is a visual and oral art tradition practised by the Patuas or Chitrakars of West Bengal. They earn their livelihood by telling stories from Hindu Mythology, local folklores, Sufi tradition and contemporary themes through paintings and songs. The unfolding or playing of the Pata is called ‘Pat Khelano’, and the song through… Read more »
On September 9th, 2023, we teamed up with Art and Wonderment, an arts engagement organization led by Alisha Sadikot and Nishita Zachariah, to invite a group of curious art enthusiasts in our archive. We opened up our collection through a session delving into the rich art traditions and histories of the Subcontinent. We showcased a curated… Read more »
In April 2023, Sarmaya collaborated with Sanctuary Asia for the global design challenge #36DaysOfType. Together, we embarked on an A-Z safari of India’s magnificent natural diversity, pairing objects from our collection with stunning photographs from Sanctuary Asia’s archives. This creative fusion resulted in the captivating series #IntoTheWild. On July 15, we hosted a pop-up exhibition of… Read more »
Through surreal Gond art, witty feminist narratives and earthy Pattachitra scrolls from our collection, we further the themes that influence Rithika Merchant’s paintings
Let’s trace the tremendous journey of Goddess Durga as she emerged from the mists of time and sprung into the limelight to capture the imagination of Calcutta, Bengal and the rest of the country
This Pattachitra by Laltu Chitrakars depicts the ‘Santhal Janam Katha’, the birth story of the Santhal tribe. The festival of Makar Sankranti, known as Sakrat, is an important celebration in the community. This is an occasion for the Santhal community to go about singing songs from house to house and engage in festivities. Several songs are performed, including… Read more »