Santhal Adiwadi (Chitrakars of West Bengal)
Bengal adiwasi painting tradition which is apparently ancient, has flourished in many district of Bengal which includes Midna pur, Bankura, Birbhumi, Murshidabad, Santhall Pargana, Hoogly and Burdwan. The most characteristic of the tradition is the vertical scroll known as jarano pala means rolled paintings which functions as a visual prop in story telling. In the painted scrolls and pats of rural Bengal is one of the few genuine folk traditions surviving down to the present century Bengal scroll paintings, a narrative pictorial tradition disseminates a rich cultural heritage of sacred and secular stories to village people throughout till present day.
Main themes of Santhal paintings spread over rituals and celebrations such as dance, harvest, merry making, family functions and of course many Hindu deities too. The scrolls illustrate mythological stories in Bengali version of the epics, Ranayana, Mahabharata and secular narratives of social, political or historical interest. They go village to village inhabited by Santhal with pictures on long scroll of paper, painted now days with bazaar colours. They sell their pats at village fairs and entertain the rural audience with their jarrono pats by showing these paintings and tell stories. A part from popular mythological stories, the themes sometimes, is a condemnation of social injustice, ending with a pasteurization of hell and of the evil – does being tortured in retribution. The picturing on the scroll are arranged in rectangular panels, one below.
Tribal Paintings are drawn by the chitrakaras. Santhal chitrakar, who are widely scattered among the forests of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. Santhal paints on a white background. They have been taught from one generation to another depicting human cycles and the core of our existence through paintings. They make trips going from village to village inhabited by the Santhals with pictures on long scroll of paper, painted nowdays with bazaar colours. Paintings differ from region to region and style to style. These tribal paintings are on our life cycles of birth, death, marriage, farming, celebration, harvest and five basic elements of Mother Earth.
Main themes of Santhal paintings spread over rituals and celebrations such as dance, harvest, merry making, family functions and of course many Hindu deities too. The scrolls illustrate mythological stories in Bengali version of the epics, Ranayana, Mahabharata and secular narratives of social, political or historical interest. . They go village to village inhabited by Santhal with pictures on long scroll of paper, painted now days with bazaar colours. They sell their pats at village fairs and entertain the rural audience with their jarrono pats by showing these paintings and tell stories. A part from popular mythological stories, the themes sometimes, is a condemnation of social injustice, ending with a pasteurization of hell and of the evil – does being tortured in retribution. The picturing on the scroll are arranged in rectangular panels, one below.
They painted usually on paper of the cheapest variety- some times even lines are absent. Sometimes even on old newspaper the jarano pats average twelve to fifteen feet in length and are one or two feet wide. A part from popular mythological stories, the themes sometimes, is a condemnation of social injustice, ending with pasteurization of hell and of the evil – does being tortured in retribution. The picturing on the scrolls are arranged in rectangular panels, one below. Some of these paintings are available even today.
Old Paintngs:
