Patachitra paintings of Orissa

Patachitra is a traditional art form of Orissa.  It is done on palm leaves.  The images are carved on the palm leaves.  In olden days scriptures were written on the same medium.  In Kannada we call it 'Talegari' (ತಾಳೆ ಗರಿ ) otherwise also known as 'talaPatra'.  On my recent visit Bangalore, I was at a art and craft show.  We came across a booth who was selling paintings for Orissa.  When we asked about the beautiful work, man who owned booth was gracious enough to explain it to us.

Artist carve or draw on the talegari and create the design one leaf at a time.   When they are carving a border, the design has to be uniform.  If they make a mistake at the end of the leaf, it thrown out and redone.  Once the pattern on the leaf is finished, they smear kaajal on it to fill the spaces if it a black and white art as shown in the pictures or they use vegetable dye or the mineral dye to fill the colors.


Notice the intricate patten in the right picture

Enjoy the not so good pictures I took.  I wish we had more time and less rain there.

Some of the items which were for sale

  We bought the story of Ramayana which is on the far right.   Hope these pictures give you a idea of what we purchased.   We also purchased a Ganesha but it was given away as a gift before I could take a picture.

Do share if you own any Patachitra painting.