Cuff

The famous scene of abduction of Seeta by Ravana, as depicted in Ramayana, is painted here in this piece of art by Bahadur Chitrakar. The giant bird Jatayu came to rescue Seeta but could not succeed as he got wounded by Ravana’s sword. Such stories of the Hindu epics make for the  subjects of many of these art pieces by the Pata Shilpis. It’s quite an old piece of art and is a heritage of Bengal’s culture. 

A depiction of modern women of the then Kolkata in this Patachitra talks about the inclination of the upper class, urban women towards art and music. Painted in typical Pot Maya style, by a young artist of today, Rajesh Chitrakar, it shows the culture of Bengal. 

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 Patachitra of Pingla generally depicts the stories of Hindu mythology. In this artwork we can see the Hindu God Kartik with his peacock, done by Suman Chitrakar. The colours used in these artworks are all derived from natural elements; for example green is made from leaves, yellow from turmeric, etc.