Pure cotton Bedcover with Kantha work

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. 

Painted in black and white, the old Kolkata’s Babu and Bibi (man and wife) talks about a common pass time for the couples, chatting and smoking. The painting style is known as ‘Kalighat er Patachitra’ which connects to Kalighat, the famous pilgrimage in Kolkata, and depicts the city life. Rajesh Chitrakar, an artist of the new generation has learned and mastered the art so well.