A PATTACHITRA PAINTING
Puri, Odisha (Orissa), Eastern India, late 19th century

Opaque ground pigments on cotton cloths joint with a coat of chalk and gum made from a paste of crushed tamarind seeds (niryas kalpa), the horizontal composition depicting the encounter of two riders on horseback in princely attire and a village maiden wearing a sari with dotted motif, the scene set in the wilderness against a bright red ground, and encased within concentric rectangular frames decorated with stylised vegetal and floral scrolls on white and yellow grounds respectively, 41.8cm x 82cm.

Pattachitra, occasionally also called Patta Jatri in a regional dialectal variant, is a term used to describe a style and format of painting traditionally attributed to Orissa (now Odisha) and West Bengal. The word itself derives from Sanskrit and it means ‘cloth-picture/painting’. The rise of this style of paintings is thought to be dependant on the city of Puri, where the Jagganath Temple is located, one of the most significant sites of Hindu worship. This pictorial tradition soon evolved in the direction of temple souvenirs, originally mostly related to the cult of Jagannath. But with time, practitioners started commissioning paintings with different deities and stories, creating an incredibly rich and varied repertoire. For further reference, please see https://www.uwa.edu.au/lwag/exhibitions/expressions-of-india/pattachitra.

The scene depicted here stems precisely from this later evolution, as it can be ascribed to both the Jagannath and the Ramayana series of pattachitra paintings. The two riders in courtly attire could be interpreted as either Jagannath and Balabhadra or Lakshmana and Rama. The maiden they encounter on their journey could either be the milkmaid Manika or another female character from the Ramayana, possibly Sita. The multi-layered readings in pattachitra paintings perfectly served the purpose of not only temple souvenirs and conduits for devotions, but also educational story-telling panels.