Once Upon A City – Visiting Calcutta in Fiction
A highly subjective list of reads to wrap you snugly in a cocoon of Calcutta-coloured threads
Bengal
Bengal Pattachitra
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 »
Endless Scroll – The Genesis of Bengal’s Pattachitra Art
Storytelling itself has survived centuries of transformation, but Bengal Patuas or Chitrakars are bearers of an ancient storytelling tradition that is fast disappearing
Discovery of India – The Birth of the Bengal Presidency, Calcutta & the British Raj
A brief history of the extraordinary role of Bengal in shaping the destiny of modern India
Jewel in the Crown
The richest province of one of the richest empires in the world, Bengal was a smorgasbord of irresistible little luxuries. Sumptuous chintzes that never lost the roses in their cheeks. Creamy cottons that felt like the caress of spring. Muslins so fine, they were given names like shabnam (evening dew), abraban (running water) and tanjeb… Read more »
Drawing the Line: Masters of the Bengal School of Art
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
Gaur: Glory, Ruin, Rediscovery
Once a seat of great power, the ancient city of Gaur lies in ruin, its hollowed-out walls holding stories, secrets and echoes of eminence
Hidden Figures: Colonial artists and Calcutta as muse
Immortalised by British artists, Calcutta and its people were seen through a colonial lens that presented India not as it was, but as they wanted it to be
French Connection: The dream of Chandannagar
Visiting a riverside town in Bengal that carried great promise and flourishing French grandeur, only to be finally unmade by war
Brewing a Revolution – The Tea Gardens of Bengal
What is life without the succour and comfort of a steaming cup of chai? From the elegant tea rooms of Calcutta to the milky concoctions of corner shops, tea is our lifeblood. We trace its history, equal parts tragic and romantic, dark and wondrous, and always full of flavour
The Costume of Hindostan
East India Company was a highly influential force in Britain by the end of the 18th century. It was fabulously wealthy, and the British leaders were among its stockholders. Naturally, then, there was curiosity among the ordinary Britons about the people in a faraway land whose politics and culture was suddenly part of the national… Read more »
The Great Churn: Indian Military History After the Fall of Aurangzeb
Author and historian Dr Anirudh Deshpande talks to us about a defining period from 1707 to 1858 that saw seismic shifts in the power balance of the Subcontinent
Group of Korewahs, Chota Nagpur
The Korewahs are a tribe from the central region of India, near the sources of the rivers Son, Narmada and Ib and other tributaries of the Mahanadi. They are populous in the hills between Sirgoojah (Surguja) and Jushpur (Jashpur) in present-day Chhattisgarh. The Korewahs were shifting cultivators. They grew rice, millet, pulses, pumpkin, cucumber and… Read more »
Santhal Janam Katha (Birth Story of the Santhals)
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 »
Bengal Pattachitra & The Art Of Painting With Song
Manimala Chitrakar brings a strong point of view to her compositions, whether it’s the Santhal legend of creation or tales from the Ramayana
Pattachitra: Manasa pata
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 »
Untitled (Crucifixion of Christ)
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 »
Love letter
The subject of this painting is a semi-nude female figure lying on her bed with a love letter. But for the breasts, there would be no way to identify the gender of the subject. The artist has whittled away all extraneous details, not to mention colours, to present a languid, wistful mood. Jogen Chowdhury’s nudes… Read more »
Map of the Mughal Empire
This map of Mughal India created by Matthew Seuter in 1745 is titled Imperii Magni Mogolis. The map charts out the extent of the Mughal Empire, extending to Persia and Kandahar (In the west) and Burma and Thailand (In the east). To the south it extends to the Malabar coasts and also points out the… Read more »
Map of India in 1022
This map depicts geographical features and the distribution of various Hindu dynasties in India in 1022. In the north-west, the Ghaznavid Empire was at its zenith under Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (971 – 1030), who crossed the river Indus and plundered India seventeen times during the course of his reign. The map was published in… Read more »