Page 502 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

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FOLK PAINTINGS
Nisar Hossain

Late Gurusaday Dutt, who was a pioneer in making the educated upper class of Bengal
conscious of the value of folk crafts and in collecting them and preserving them with
proper care, wrote as follows in the thirties of the last century: ‘… so widely does the
talent for painting and color arrangement exists even now among men and women of
different communities of village Bengal—and not only does it exist to a wide extent, it
is also of so high a standard—that such can rarely be found in any country in the
present days of consumerism.’ [Trans.] Along with innumerable patua artists of rural
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Bengal, the people of acharya and kumbhakar communities of East Bengal, sutradhar
community of West Bengal and malakar community of both East and West Bengal are
found to be earning a livelihood over the generations through close involvement with
painting. The chief examples of the painting talent of the kumbhakars (potters) are
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sarachitra (clay pot cover painting), painted patas and chalchitra, karandichitra of the
malakars and patachitra of the patuas and acharyas. Some other things and objects
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also made by these communities which clearly manifest their talent for painting are
dolls and images painted by the kumbhakars, colored birds and flowers of sponge wood
or pith (shola) created by the malakars and lakshmisara and thikuji or koshthichitra
(painted horoscope) made by the acharyas. Besides these, ‘we evidence the widespread
talent for painting in rural women of all classes of Bengal and its excellence in the
white and colored alpana (painting on the ground) performed on the mud-floor, stools
and water-pots and in execution of colored chalchitra and designs of lotus, etc. on
walls.… As regards drawing skills, flowing lines and rhythmic arrangements
expressive of emotions, these are art resources of a very high standard.’ [Trans.]
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Patachitra
The Pata and the Patua Community
Paintings created by placing a special kind of coating on coarse cotton cloth to present
narrative accounts are generally called Patachitra. This is considered to be ‘the most
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excellent and highest form of painting’ among the folk paintings of Bengal.
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The word ‘pata’ originates from the Sanskrit ‘patta’ which means fabric or cloth. 7
Before paper came into use in ancient India, there was widespread use of painting on