Scroll Painting

In India we have a rich culture in all aspect, like fine arts, theater arts, folk arts or in Martial arts but today we have to focus on  Indian Scroll painting. Though the Far eastern scroll paintings are also famous, like Chinese scroll & Japanese scroll paintings,

In India scroll paintings are famous in Bengal, Orissa, Telengana. In Bengal and Orissa it’s call patachitra painting and in Telengana it is call Cheriyal painting.

Now the question is, what is scroll paintings? 

Scroll paintings are the narrative story telling with the help of painting and singing. They start the story and unroll it in opposite direction til the story end.  

Kalighat painting

In west Bengal a traditional caste community of artists, called patuas. The kalighat patachitra is till famous but in modern time there is non of  the patuas are found in the kalighat area. They are scattered in Midnapur, Birbhum, Bankura  and puruliya districts in Bengal and there they continue with the patachitra painting.

They paint colourful scroll to accompany songs which they sing to relate historic, current and religious event. Past they traveled long distance to perform and singing the songs and unrolling the scrolls panel by panel but in modern time they are struggling to compete with the  other modern entertainment forms, such as cable TV, movies etc.

 In Orissa scroll painting is called “Pattachitra”and it is a traditional painting.

The story-based on Hindu mythology and specially inspired by Jagannath and Vaishnava cult.Itis a oldest art form and also most popular art forms of Odissa. In Sanskrit word patta meaning canvas and chitra meaning picture. This art form is more than thousand years old. The use of colour application is rich, creative motifs and design and also portrayal of simple themes, Mostly mythological in depiction. The centre of this painting is Puri, Konarkand Bhubaneshwar region. The best works are done in around Puri, especially in Raghurajpur village. In this village almost each and every body is an artist. Except this Paralakhemundi,Chikiti and Sonepur is also known for pattachitra paintings. 

We can see the mix style of folk and classical  elements in Orissa’s scroll painting. The dress style is shown Mughal influence. The lines are bold , clean , sharp and also angular. Basically in the painting there is no perspectives and no landscapes on the back ground, all the incidents are seen in close juxtaposition. The back ground is shown with floral motif and foliage mostly red in colours...it’s a mixture of design and figurative forms.

On the other side Cheriyal scroll painting is a stylized version of Nakashi art. Like the two other scroll painting this is also a narrative format, most like a flim or comics strips.this is Influence from Telengana region  local motifs. The stories are mostly from Puranas and epics. 

Like all the above said scroll paintings it is also face competition from TV, coumpturMovies too. This  painting is  presently made only in Cheriyal, warangal district of Telengana. The  balladeer community known as Kaki Padagollu are involve of the story telling. They display the scroll and accompanied by music and dance went from village to villageBased on the story of Indian epics and Puranas. In their five member team, two people would narrate the story and rest others accompanied by music, such as harmonium, tabla and castanets. The  scroll would flow like a film roll.

The size of the scroll is 3 feet in width and went 40-45 feet in length, it depending on the story. The traditional scrolls are mostly vertical format but illustrating stories in a series of horizontal format. A floral border in the middle separates the two panels. The scroll have at least fifty panels.

At the end I can say that we have to encourage   the artist to buy some of their works when ever we meet them. This is the way we can save the ancient folk art of India.  

-Mousumi and Sukalyan