Bengal Patua Scroll Painting
A painting that sings — unrolled panel by panel to the artist's own composed ballad.
A performed painting tradition of Bengal in which the Patua (Chitrakar) artist paints a vertical narrative scroll — a 'jorano pat' — and then unrolls it panel by panel while singing the story it tells in a song they have composed themselves. Subjects run from the goddess Manasa and the life of Krishna to tsunamis, the September 11 attacks and public-health messages.
Craft at a Glance
Origin
Pingla, West Bengal
Craft Type
Narrative scroll painting and song
Materials
Paper backed with cloth; pigments from turmeric, lamp-black, burnt clay, bean leaves, hibiscus and indigo; wood-apple (bel) gum as binder; brushes made from goat and squirrel hair set in a feather quill.
Known For
Rolled 'jorano pat' scrolls, hand-made natural colour, sung storytelling
Time to Create
One to two weeks to paint a scroll; the accompanying song may take as long to compose
Process Steps
Making the colours
Flowers, leaves, clay, turmeric and soot are ground and mixed with wood-apple gum to produce every colour the scroll will need.
Painting the panels
Each episode of the story is painted on a separate sheet in flat colour with a bold black outline.
Joining the scroll
The finished sheets are pasted in sequence and backed with strips of old cloth so the scroll stays supple.
Composing the song
The artist writes a 'pater gaan' — a ballad in verse — that will be sung while the scroll is shown.
Technique Glossary
Jorano pat
The long vertical scroll made of joined sheets, unrolled from the bottom as the story is sung.
Chowko pat
A single square framed painting, the format most often sold to visitors and collectors today.
Pater gaan
The scroll-song the Patua composes and performs; the painting is considered incomplete without it.
A Craft Through Time
Pre-modern
Travelling painter-singers
Patuas move between villages performing sung scrolls of myth and morality in exchange for food and money.
19th century
The Kalighat offshoot
Some Patuas settle in Calcutta and develop the fast bazaar style of Kalighat painting.
Late 20th century
Near collapse
Radio, film and television erode demand; the number of practising Patua families falls sharply.
2000s onward
Naya's revival
The village of Naya organises the annual POT Maya fair, adds contemporary subjects, and Bengal Patachitra receives a GI tag.
Did You Know?
Many Patua families hold both Hindu and Muslim identities — using a Muslim surname in daily life and 'Chitrakar' as their professional name — and paint stories from both traditions.
Every craft has a story. Every story begins with tradition.