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 »
Jangarh exemplified the natural theme of Gondi painting. The silent message is clear—everything is interconnected
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 »
TEMPLE TRAILS: TRACING THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE CHOLA DYNASTY
by Pradeep Chakravarthy
December 2, 2017
A beginner’s guide to the beauty, history and narratives behind three Chola temples
This is a gold mohur issued by Alamgir II (1699-1759) and minted in Shahjahanabad. Alamgir II was a Mughal Emperor, who ruled from the capital of Delhi during the latter part of the 18th century. Being raised to the throne at the age of fifty-five, he was a relatively weak and incapable ruler, and was… Read more »
Thomas H. Sherratt’s original engraving and etching, The Storming of Delhi is based upon a design created by Matthew Somerville Morgan (M. S. Morgan), depicting the siege of Kashmiri Gate (Delhi) during the Uprising of 1857. After weeks of planning from the ridge under the leadership of John Nicholson, the British captured the city of… Read more »
The Phad is a tradition of creating religious scroll paintings, practiced by the Bhopa tribal community of Rajasthan. They are primarily made for two folk deities, Pabuji and Devnarayan. The creation of the phad is just one part of the entire process—the cloth is actually the main prop of a larger ritualistic performance. Singer-priests roam… Read more »
This is an engraving after an older one by Jean Bellin, the official engraver and cartographer of the king of France. It is a town plan of Goa in the panorama view including mountains, trees, buildings, elephants, ships in the harbor, boats resting on the shore, and religious buildings. It depicts the fort of Goa,… Read more »
Souza brings a touch of the unexpected, even a note of the odd, to the table in this rendition of the Supper at Emmaus, where a resurrected Jesus reveals himself to two of his followers. The disciples faces are disfigured in a way that references the artist’s cubist tendencies. FN Souza believed that art offered… Read more »
Jamini Roy was probably the first artist to depict Christ in an Indian vocabulary. He was looking to test the effectiveness of his bold line and flat colour technique on a subject which was remote from his personal life. Being an orthodox Hindu who had never read the old or new testaments, Roy saw the… Read more »
The theme of this painting is the ‘Crucifixion of Christ’. The artwork deliberately shifts our focus to Christ’s harsh, pained facial expressions by eliminating his nailed hands and legs, bleeding on the cross. Jogen Chowdhury’s Christ conveys intense human emotions of distress, agony and pain through both the body and the face. A white halo… Read more »
This pattachitra describes Krishna and Balarama leaving Vrindavan to go to Dwarka – where Krishna settled and ruled as king. Gopis can be seen lining ahead of the chariot and bidding him farewell. Since this a modern rendition of the legend the figures are actually shown waving to each other – a gesture borrowed from… Read more »
This is a Gond painting created in the tribal regions of Madhya Pradesh. A ritualistic mural tradition of the Gondi tribe, Gond paintings are done on paper with synthetic colours now. This image created by Rajkumar Shyam depicts a tribal goddess called “Maindo Mai”. She holds a broom and a trident in her two arms,… 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 »
This is an Orissa Pattachitra detailing the Jagannath temple in Puri, along with other scenes from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The pattachitra tradition is an indegenous artform of Orissa, where religious paintings are done on a canvas created with cotton cloth (called patta). The colours emploed are also natural – derived from various minerals… Read more »
This artwork is a Mithila painting of Shiva, Sati and her ten forms called the ‘Dasa Mahavidyas’ created by Mithila artist Poonam Devi. Madhubani or Mithila painting is part of the cultural identity of Bihar and Mithila, a historical region that folded in parts of present-day Nepal. Originally ritualistic murals done on the interior walls… Read more »
This is a pattachitra created by Akshaya Kumar Bariki, and dealing with the theme of Krishna Raas Lila. The centre of this painting depicts Krishna and Radha sitting under the Kadamba tree, being attended to by gopis. Around the main image are two circular registers occupied by figures of Krishna and the gopis dancing. The… Read more »
The Mithila or Madhubani painting tradition originated in Bihar, and is claimed to be around 1200 years old. It is primarily practiced by women, who used to create these works on the walls of their house interiors. It was only by chance in 1934, when a massive earthquake destroyed of the artists’ mud homes, that… Read more »
This composition showing a harvest is a Warli painting on a cow-dung-washed canvas by Jivya Soma Mashe (1934-2018). The artist depicts the harvesting season and its corresponding activities in this painting. Wagobha, the community’s tiger god, has a dedicated shrine in the composition’s bottom centre. For the Warli community, farming is a vital source of… Read more »
This is a Gond painting created in the tribal regions of Madhya Pradesh. A ritualistic mural tradition of the Gondi tribe, Gond paintings are done on paper with synthetic colours now. This image is created by Kaushal Prasad Tekam on paper. His signature style is creating a texture through using dashes in various tonalities of… Read more »