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Puri’s Pattachitra Art
My interest in Odisha’s fascinating pattachitra art was ignited the moment I walked into my suite at Sterling Puri, a stunning, ocean-fronted luxury resort in Puri. The room’s walls were awash in vibrant Pattachitra art depicting scenes from Indian mythology and folklore. Radha-Krishna in an amorous embrace; Lord Jagannath accoutered in traditional jewelry; the many splendored Goddess Durga; Lord Ganesh sitting in a cross-legged pose – each depiction brought to life scenes from textbooks I’d only read in school.
As I admired the artwork, the hotel’s General Manager, Shitanshu Bhargava, explained that Odisha’s pattachitra tradition goes back to the fourth century. Remarkably, the paintings are made with natural pigments and materials, which gives them a unique look. “At our hotel’s boutique, we stock paintings by local artisans, which the guests love to buy. The sales help artisans earn a livelihood and sustain their craft,” he added.
Raghurajpur Heritage Village
At his suggestion, I visited the 5th-century UNESCO-recognized heritage village of Raghurajpur, located about 10 km from Puri. It hosts 200 multigenerational artist families and national award-winning craftsmen, engaged in making the pattachitra paintings that have brought glory to Indian heritage.
Raghurajpur was unlike any hamlet I’d seen before. It mimicked an open-air art gallery with rows upon rows of brick houses, each doubling as an artist’s studio and retail shop. Each home was painted in vibrant hues depicting stories from Hindu mythology – of Krishna, Lord Ram, Jagannath, Subhadra, and other Hindu gods and goddesses.
I peeped inside a house with its door ajar and found artist Shankar bent over a pattachitra painting, adding the finishing touches to a work called ‘Tree of Life.’ Shankar welcomed us inside and shared his family history. He is descended from four generations of Pattachitra artists who practiced an art that is also produced as palm leaf engravings or scroll paintings on cloth.
The Art of Pattachitra
Making a pattachitra painting is a lot of hard work, said the 45-year-old artist. The cloth paintings use scrolls of cloth as a canvas. Cotton cloth is first soaked in tamarind-seed water and then coated with chalk and gum. To prep the base for a painting, seven sheets are first pasted together, then the final sheaf is smoothed out with a stone to create the canvas – a basic prep that takes 2-3 weeks. Following this, the “time taken by the painting can vary depending on the intricacies involved,” said Shankar.
For the Tala Patrachitra, the artists engrave intricate designs and motifs onto palm leaves. “From childhood, I’ve seen my grandfather and father painting pattachitra, ” said Shankar. It’s an art form passed down through the generations. “My father learnt it from my grandfather, and my grandfather from his father. Growing up, I also got hooked on the art form. My mother jokes that I picked up the brush even before I learnt to write with a pencil!” he said.
Color-coded characters
Interestingly, in pattachitra paintings, each character has its own colors. Krishna is always blue, Rama yellow, and Durga red. Shankar said that his father and grandfather always used organic colors from diverse rocks and plants which the ladies of the house helped source– white from the powder of conch shells, yellow from a stone called harital, red from the red-oxide stone or geru, blue from indigo and green from various leaves.
“However, over the years, there’s been a change in terms of raw materials used,” noted Shankar. “While earlier we used organic colors from different rocks, which are mixed with gum sourced from trees, now we get ready-made acrylic colors from the market.”
Interestingly, due to market dynamics, pattachitra’s applications have also become more diversified now. It is painted on souvenirs like flower vases, kettles, bottles, boxes, coconut shells, and even clocks. Over time, Raghurajpur has also gained fame for other art forms like papier-mâché toys, wood carvings, and toys made from cowdung.
Diversifying artwork
Visitors have surged to the village ever since Raghurajpur was declared as Odisha’s heritage crafts village by INTACH in 2000. It was named the Best Tourism Village in 2023 by the Union Ministry of Tourism, and grabbed headlines when Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave former French President Francois Hollande the ‘Tree of Life’ painting by Raghurajpur artist Bhaskar Mahapatra.
Feeling enriched and energized, I left Raghurajpur with a big smile on my face and a beautiful Pattachitra painting depicting scenes from the Ramayana. The piece now lights up a wall in my living room. Whenever I admire it, which is often, I’m transported to the beautiful village of Raghurajpur and its amazing artisans!