Patachitra- Pride of Orissa

Already I have written about Patachitra in my earlier post. In this post sharing about the process of making patachitra and the designs and motifs used in Patachitra.
The Patachitra are made on Palm leaf strips joined with stitches.
Here you can see the one I have,

The theme in this Patachitra is Shri Krishna and Dashavatara pictures. The pictures are engraved on the palm leaf.
Here you can see the engraved picture, closely.

 

 

Floral borders:

Geometrical border:

The Patachitra is also done on clothes. Before making the painting the cloth is bonded with gum made of tamarind powder to hold the paint properly.After applying the tamarind paste the cloth is dried in sun. Once dried rubbed on both the sides with stone first and then with smooth pebble. Then the design is painted on the cloth with natural dyes.
Here is a colorful Patachitra.

Each Patachitra is painted so intricately that, every painting shows the effort of the artist. Its not only just a decorative painting, Patachtra has a role in some rituals performed in temple of Puri.
I’m really happy to share about this unique art which is part of diversity of India.

-Ranjana