Cyclone Fani Has Damaged Pattachitra painting

Pattachitra painting

Cyclone fani has damaged many piece of pattachitra paintings. Pattachitra style of painting is one of the oldest and most popular art forms of odisha.

To the Points:

• The name Pattachitra has evolved from the sanskrit words Patta, meaning canvas, and Chitra meaning picture. Pattachitra is a painting done on canvas ad is manifested by rich colorful application , creative mofits and designs and portrayal of simple themes, mostly mythological in depiction.
• Some of the popular themes represented through this art form are Thia Badhia- depiction of the temple of jagannath; Krishna Lila- enactment of jagannath as lord krishna displaying his powers as a child; Dasabatara Patti- the ten incarnations of lord vishnu; Panchamukhi- depiction of lord ganesh as a five headed deity.
• The pattachitra, when painted on cloth, follows a traditional process of preparation of the canvas. First the base is prepared by coating the cloth with the soft, white, stone powder of chalk and glue made from tamarind seeds.
• It is a tradition to complete the borders of the painting first. The painter then starts making a rough sketch directly with the brush using light red and yellow. the colors used are normally white,red,yellow and black.
• When the painting is completed it is held over a charcol fire and lacquer is applied to the surface. This makes the painting water resistant and durable, besides giving it a shining finish.