Traditional and Folk Art of Odisha
What this domain tests
Recognition, region, material, technique and iconography of Odisha's living craft traditions.
What to know
- Pattachitra (Puri, Raghurajpur, Chitrakar community): cloth or palm leaf, natural pigment, flat colour inside bold black outlines, no shading and no perspective. Themes include Jagannath, Dasavatara, Ramayana and Krishna-lila, plus the Anasara replacement paintings; borders carry floral and geometric motifs.
- Talapatra: palm leaf etched with an iron stylus, lamp-black rubbed in, leaves strung as a folded manuscript.
- Jhoti or Chita: rice paste drawing on floor and wall at Lakshmi Puja, made by women with fingers and cloth.
- Saura painting (Rayagada, Ganjam; Lanjia Saora): red-brown wall ground, white ikons and figures, geometric border, ritual purpose.
- Applique - Chandua and Pipili work: cloth patches stitched down, umbrella, temple and animal motifs.
- Bandha or Sambalpuri ikat: tie-dyed warp and weft, with Bomkai and Pasapali borders.
- Dhokra lost-wax metal casting; Tarakasi silver filigree of Cuttack; stone carving of Bhubaneswar; papier-mâché masks of Raghurajpur.
Worked example
A description runs: cloth scroll, black outline, flat vermilion and yellow, fish-nosed Jagannath triad, floral border. Identify as Pattachitra. Reasoning: the cloth support, mineral palette, unmodulated flat fill and Chitrakar border convention separate it from Rajasthani miniature painting, which uses shading and perspective, and from Saura work, which is a wall painting in white line.
Traps
- Calling Pattachitra a miniature painting.
- Confusing etched talapatra with painted cloth Pattachitra.
- Placing Saura painting in Bengal.
- Naming natural colours vaguely instead of hingula, haritala, sankha.