Santhal Tribal Scroll Paintings (Pattachitra)

Art365 India

Scroll paintings are commonly known as pattachitra in India (patta means scroll and chitra means picture). A scroll painting is divided into vertical blocks that are stitched together and each block depicts a distinct episode of the story being narrated. The scroll painters known as pattuas (or chitrakars) traditionally earned their living by wandering from village to village, showing scrolls and singing songs to narrate tribal stories of creation, death and life in the underworld. The scrolls consist of individual story panels arranged vertically, which are unrolled and rerolled as the story is sung.

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