Pattachitra

Pattachitra is a general term for traditional, cloth-based scroll painting, based in the eastern Indian state, Odisha. In the Sanskrit language, "Patta" literally means "cloth" and "Chitra" means "picture". Most of these paintings depict stories of Hindu deities.

Pattachitra is a traditional painting of Odisha, India.These paintings are based on Hindu mythology and specially inspired by Jagannath and Vaishnava sect. All colours used in the Paintings are natural and paintings are made fully old traditional way by Chitrakaras that is Oriya Painter. Pattachitra style of painting is one of the oldest and most popular art forms of Odisha. The name Pattachitra has evolved from the Sanskrit words patta, meaning canvas, and chitra, meaning picture. Pattachitra is thus a painting done on canvas, and is manifested by rich colourful application, creative motifs and designs, and portrayal of simple themes, mostly mythological in depiction. The traditions of pattachitra paintings are more than thousand years old.

The painting the 'pattachitra' resemble the old murals of Odisha especially religious centres of Puri, Konark and Bhubaneshwar region, dating back to the 5th century BC. The best work is found in and around Puri, especially in the village of Raghurajpur.

This old tradition of Oriya painting still survives in the places like Puri, Raghurajpur, Paralakhemundi, Chikiti and Sonepur.In the past professionerise, there was no distinct separation between the master painters and master sculptors; so the possibility of a simultaneous origin of painting and sculptural art in Odisha can not be ruled out. Even today in Odisha, these two crafts are combined inone and these artists and known as Chitrakaras, their title remains mostly Mohapatra or Maharana. Strangely enough, painting appeared in Odisha rather later, several centuries after the construction of the great temples of Bhubaneswar, Puri and Konark.here exists a good number of paintings from 18th century onwards in many temples and Mathas especially in the southern districts of Odisha. Lord Jagannath in the present from is being taken as the origin of the Patta style. The colour schemes of the deities of Puri are quite similar to those of the Patta style. The oldest record of Patta Paintings does not probably go beyond the establishment of the present shrine of Shri Jagannath at Puri. It may be due to the fact that paintings do not survive like sculptures. The paints inside the shrines of Lord Jagannath at Puri make the date probable. The oldest classical marble paintings of Sitabanji at Keonjhar do not conform to the present style of Patta painting wholly. The wooden statues of the three deities are also covered with cloth and then overlaid with glue mixed with chalk, and then given paint only with four limited colours of red, yellow, white and black. The deities who are held in high esteem by the Oriyas and who inspire religion, life and activity of the people also carry with them a tradition of art and painting which is as old as the deities themselves. If the Savara origin of Jagannath is accepted, the date of the Patta paintings can be dated back to an earlier period. These paintings were originally substitutes for worship on days when the temple doors were shut for the 'ritual bath' of the deity.

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