Babu Bibi

This painting, by Bahadur Chitrakar, is a scene from the Manasa Mangal, also known as Padmapuran, a folk lore based on Hindu mythology. The deity of snakes, Devi Manasa is one of the protagonists of the story who compels Chand Saudagar, a rich businessman, to worship her by hook or crook. Chand was a worshipper of Shiva and he would never want to pay homage to Manasa. To fulfil her desire, Manasa sends her snakes to bite Chand’s son Lakhindar to death. Behula, the wife of Lakhindar, takes all the pain to make piece between Manasa and Chand, and subsequently gets back her husband to life. 

A depiction of Kamale Kamini, the Hindu deity called Devi Chandi, is here in this painting of Bahadur Chitrakar. The famous Bengali folk lore, Chandi Mangal, written by Kabikankan Mukundaram, tells the tale of Devi Chandi, supposedly another avatar of Devi Durga. The goddess was seen sitting on a huge lotus flower in the middle of the sea and gobbling an elephant and then throwing it up. She would repeat this time and again. The story is long and this painting was used to tell the story to villagers in olden days. It is a very old piece of art. 

The location of these Patachitra Shilpi or artists falls in a place, popularly known as Jangal Mahal in West Bengal. The area is home to a number of indigenous tribes like Santhals, Vills, Mundas. The paintings, for obvious reasons, depict the tribal culture. One such example by Nazra Chitrakar, who learnt the art from her older generations and is now passing it on to her successors. A depiction of a tribal marriage ceremony is beautifully borne by this painting.