Maleek Chitrakar at Saras Mela 2010

Maleek Chitrakar at the Saras Mela 2010. He is a Patua (artist/painter who makes scroll paintings called Patachiras) from the village of Naya, Midnapur, West Bengal in India.

Video is shaky, sorry about that. He is seen narrating Manasamangal Kavya, an ancient story of the snake Goddess Manasa.

Patachitra, an ancient folk art of Bengal , is appreciated by art lovers all over the world for its effortless style of drawings, colours, lines and space usage. The world Pata derived from the Sanskrit word Patta means cloth. The painters are called Patuas. Patuas do not just paint, they also sing as they unfurl the painting scroll to show it to the audience. These songs are known as Pater Gaan. The songs are of wide variety ranging from traditional mythological tales and tribal rituals to stories based on modern Indian history and contemporary issues like protecting forests and preventing spread of HIV/AIDS. Patuas generally use natural colours, which they procure from various trees, leaves, flowers and clays.

Patachitra has been mentioned in Puranas, Epics, Ancient Literatures and Historical Descriptions. The style of painting is similar to the cave paintings of Mohenjodaro, Harappa and Ajanta . 'Patuas' and 'Chitrakars' have been referred to in literary works dating back to more then 2500 years. Some researchers opine that 'Patashilpa' was originally an art from of the Santhals (tribal community). It was popular among Hindu tribes like Santhals, Hos, Munda, Juangs and Kherias who painted 'Patachitras' depicting the birth of their first ancestors Pilchu Haram and Pilchu Burhi; how they had seven sons and seven daughters and how these seven brothers were married to their sisters. With the growing influence of Buddhism, the Patuas embraced the faith. Buddhist kings and monks made extensive use of scroll paintings to preach Buddhism and during this time Patachitra probably spread to Bali, Java, Sri-Lanka , Malaysia and Tibet . With Muslim invasions, Islam spread and the Chitrakars became followers of Islam.

Info source: http://www.midnapore.in/festival/potmaya/pot-maya-naya-pingla.html

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Tags:

• patachitra
• indian folk art
• bengal folk art
• chitrakar
• naya
• scroll painting
• midnapur
• handicraft
• fair
• mela
• kolkata

[ebmTone]

Great scroll painting! ;)