Eminent Pattachitra artist Guru Pankaj Behera has a a thorough understanding of the tradition and heritage of the art form.
He feels the line between ‘artists’ and ‘sculptors’ is blurred. Working towards it, he pursued palm Pattachitra, an art form that involves both drawing and engraving on palm leaves.
Originated in Puri, the art form allows the artisan to capture the multitude of Indian mythological stories on palm leaves. The laborious process involves drawing, engraving and washing the carefully etched surface of dried palm leaves with a coat of ink. This then reveals the intricate designs and figures of the gods and goddesses, especially lord Jagannath.
"These paintings are made on a canvas, which is prepared by mashing an old cotton cloth and palm leaves. When the canvas dries up, it is hardened using a paste of tamarind, turmeric, chalk and granite powder. The colours used in these paintings are made from coal, conch shells, turmeric, chalk powder, leaves of selected plants and soft stones,” Pankaj said.
Pankaj hails from a family of clay sculptor family. He is also versed in mathachitra and palm leaf inscription, synonymous art forms. “Patta paintings, or pattachitra, date back to antiquity.
Earlier, the painting was done on palm leaves. Subsequently, the paintings were made on tussar cloth and vegetable dyes were used. The important thing about this art is its canvas, on which the creative imagination gets reflected. The canvas is made out of cotton fabric of different sizes as per the requirement, which is coated with a paste of tamarind powder. The artist invariably takes puranic stories and legends as his themes,” Pankaj said.
Pattachitra artists of Puri are good at creating ‘yatri patti’ and ‘tikili’ while in Athagarh they are good at creating khudurkuni patti, wooden puppets, clay puppets, cow dung puppets and paper masks. Historically, the first generation pattachitra artists did arts of ‘gola’, ‘tikili’, ‘panchamandaria’ and ‘yatripatti’. The next generation worked on images of temples and mutts. The third generation dealt with the Bhagabat, moon, Rekhapanchami, Nrusingha Janma and Janmastami. All these images were done by members of the Chitrakar clan.
Pankaj’s elder brother Saroj Behera has opened a Pattachitra Centre at Nabakalebar Road, Puri. It was established in the year 1992. The centre has a huge collection of these paintings, available in various sizes and themes.