Pattachitra is a traditional painting of Odisha, India. Originating at puri. All colours used in the Paintings are natural and paintings are made ancient traditional way by Chitrakaras that is Odiya Painter. Pattachitra style of painting is one of the oldest and most popular art forms of
Odisha. The name Pattachitra has evolved from the Sanskrit words
patta, meaning canvas, and
chitra, meaning picture. Pattachitra is thus a painting done on canvas, and is manifested by rich colourful application, creative motifs, designs, and portrayal of simple themes, mostly mythological in depiction. The traditions of
pattachitra paintings are more than thousand years old.
Origin depicted in the form of two lovers. Pigment on cloth, 16 x 12cm, Odisha, mid-nineteenth century. Private collection|leftThe paintings of
Odisha can be divided into three categories from the point of view of medium, i.e. paintings on cloth or 'Patta Chitra', paintings on walls or 'Bhitti Chitra' and palm leaf engravings or "Tala Patra Chitra" or "Pothi, Chitra'. The style of all these remains more or less the same at a specific time because then the artists were commissioned to work in all these media, it is believed. The painting, the pattachitra, resembles the old murals of
Odisha, especially religious centres of
Puri,
Konark and
Bhubaneswar region, dating back to the 5th century BC. The best work is found in and around
Puri, especially in the village of
Raghurajpur. This old tradition of Odia painting still survives in places like
Puri,
Raghurajpur,
Paralakhemundi,
Chikiti and
Sonepur. Lord
Jagannath in the present form is being taken as the origin of the Patta style. The colour schemes of the deities of Puri are quite similar to those of the Patta style. The oldest record of Patta Paintings probably does not go beyond the establishment of the present shrine of Shri Jagannath at Puri. It may be since paintings do not survive like sculptures. The paints inside the shrines of Lord Jagannath at Puri make the date probable. The oldest classical marble paintings of Sitabanji at
Keonjhar do not conform to the present style of Patta painting wholly. The wooden statues of the three deities are also covered with cloth and then overlaid with glue mixed with chalk, and then given paint only with four limited colours of
red,
yellow,
white and
black. The deities who are held in high esteem by the
Odias and who inspire religion, life and activity of the people also carry with them a tradition of art and painting which is as old as the deities themselves. If the Savara origin of
Jagannath is accepted, the date of the Patta paintings can be dated back to an earlier period. These paintings were originally substitutes for worship on days when the idols were kept away from the public after their ritual bath.
Theme and style The theme of Odia painting centres round the
Jagannath and the
Vaishnava sect. Since the beginning of Pattachitra culture, Lord
Jagannath who was an incarnation of Lord
Krishna has been the major source of inspiration. The subject matter of Pattachitra is mostly mythological, religious stories and
folk lore. Themes are chiefly on Lord Jagannath and
Radha-
Krishna, different "Vesas" of Shri Jagannath,
Balabhadra and
Subhadra, temple activities, the ten incarnations of
Vishnu basing on the '
Gita Govinda' of
Jayadev, Kama Kujara
Navagunjara,
Ramayana,
Mahabharata. The individual paintings of gods and goddesses are also being painted. The Pattachitra style is a mix of both folk and classical elements, but leans more towards folk forms. The dress style has
Ancient odia influences. All of the poses have been confined to a few well-defined postures. These are not free from monotonous repetitions, though at times this is necessary to accentuate the narrative character of the style. The lines are bold and clean and angular and sharp. Generally, there are no landscapes, perspectives, or distant views. All the incidents are seen in close juxtaposition. The background on which the figures are represented is delineated with decorations of flowers and foliage, and is mostly painted in red colour. All the paintings are given decorative borders. The whole painting is conceived in the form of a design on a given canvas. The themes may be classified into following categories • Jagannath paintings • Vaishnav Paintings • Bhagabat paintings • Ramayana paintings • Saiva paintings • Shakta paintings • Paintings as legends • Ragachitras • Bandhachitra • Yamapati and yatripatas – (sketches of puri temple)
Ganjapa playing card paintings and other social themes on paintings. • Navagunjara
Technique culture in Odisha Traditionally, the painters are known as
chitrakars. A patta painter's home with all the members of the family is his studio. Woman members prepare the glue, the canvas and apply colours which we call the fill-in, and give the final lacquer coating. The master hand, mostly the male member, draws the initial line and gives the final finishing touch. Patta paintings are done on small strips of
cotton cloth. The
canvas is prepared by coating the clothing with a mixture of chalk and gum made from
Guar or
tamarind seeds. Then it is rubbed by taking the help of two different stones, and then the cloth is dried. The mixture of gum and
chalk gives the cloth's surface a leathery finish on which the artists paint with vegetable, earth and stone colours. The painters do not use pencil or
charcoal for the preliminary drawings. They are so expert in the line that they simply draw directly with the brush, either in light red or yellow. Then the colours are filled in. The final lines are drawn, and the patta is given a lacquer coating to protect it from the weather, thus making the painting glossy. This process of glazing or
varnishing is quite interesting. The painting is held over a fireplace so that the back of the painting is exposed to heat. On the surface of the painting, fine lacquer is applied.
Colour Pattachitras are painted in five natural colours - Hingula, Haritala, Kala, Sankha and Geru, which are: Vermilion, Green, Black, Pearl White and Brick Orange respectively. There are typical scenes and figures, like Krishna, Gopis, elephants, trees, and other creatures are seen in these paintings. Krishna is always painted in blue and the Gopis in light pink, purple or brown colours. The painters use vegetable and mineral colours without going for factory-made poster colours. They prepare their own colours. White colour is made from the
conch-shells by powdering,
boiling and
filtering in a very hazardous process. It requires a lot of patience. But this process gives brilliance and prominence to the
hue. 'Hingula', a mineral colour, is used for red. 'Haritala', king of stone ingredients for yellow, 'Ramaraja', a sort of indigo for blue, are being used. Pure
lamp-
black or black prepared from the burning of
coconut shells are used. There was no blue, either cobalt or ultramarine, in the earlier colour schemes. The colours used in the Patta paintings are primarily bright colours, limited to red, yellow, indigo, black and white. The brushes that are used by these 'Chitrakaras' are also indigenous and are made of hair of domestic animals. A bunch of hair tied to the end of a
bamboo stick makes the brush.
Palm leaf Pattachitra Palm leaf
pattachitra, which is in the
Odia language known as
Tala Pattachitra drawn on a palm leaf. First of all, palm leaves are left to harden after being taken from the tree. Then these are sewn together to form like a canvas. The images are traced by using black or white ink to fill grooves etched on rows of equal-sized panels of palm leaf that are sewn together. These panels can also be easily folded like a fan and packed in a compact pile for better conservation. Often, palm-leaf illustrations are more elaborate, obtained by superimposing layers that are glued together for most of the surface, but in some areas can open like small windows to reveal a second image under the first layer. of Kabi Samrata
Upendra Bhanja. Left detail, India, Odisha, late 18th century - Hanuman and Bharata at Nandigrama (verso) - 1979.21.b -
Cleveland Museum of Art.
Gallery File:Papier-mâché mask at Odisha Crafts Museum, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India 01.jpg|Papier-mâché mask of Goddess Kali painted in the Pattachitra idiom, Kala Bhoomi Odisha Crafts Museum, Bhubaneswar. File:Exhibits at the Odisha Crafts Museum 17.jpg|Wooden Ramalila masks painted in the Pattachitra style, Kala Bhoomi Odisha Crafts Museum, Bhubaneswar. File:Konark palm leaf manuscript.jpg|Tala Pattachitra, palm leaf painting showing the architectural plan of the
Sun Temple of Konark, Odisha. File:Wooden toys of women at Odisha Crafts Museum, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.jpg|Wooden statuettes painted in the Pattachitra style, Kala Bhoomi Odisha Crafts Museum, Bhubaneswar. File:Wooden torana at Odisha Crafts Museum, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India 04.jpg|Prabha of Devi Subhadra's
Ratha, Puri, Odisha. File:Narasimha Mural Puri.jpg|Modern wall mural of
Narasimha in a street of Puri, Odisha. == Bengal Pattachitra ==