Traditional and Folk Art of Odisha
This domain tests knowledge of Odisha’s living craft traditions and the materials, motifs and techniques that identify them. Questions may ask you to distinguish one tradition from another or to name the process behind a familiar object.
Core traditions
- Pattachitra: cloth-based scroll painting centred on Jagannath and Vaishnava themes, associated with Raghurajpur and Puri; natural colours, bold black outlines, decorative borders and repeated motifs.
- Palm-leaf etching (talapatra): incised and inked palm-leaf manuscripts and folios; fine line and compact composition.
- Dhokra: lost-wax metal casting using a wax model, clay investment, heating and pouring; used for small figures and ritual objects.
- Tarakasi: silver filigree of Cuttack, made by drawing fine wire and shaping it into delicate ornaments.
- Pipli appliqué: cut-cloth appliqué in bright colours, used for Chandua canopies, umbrellas and banners.
- Saura painting: wall painting from the Rayagada–Koraput region, with geometric figures and a dense, patterned field.
- Terracotta and wood carving: temple panels, pottery and carved doorways that show Odisha’s modelling and relief traditions.
Worked example
You are shown a cloth painting with a black outline, a red border and a central Jagannath triad. Identifying it as Pattachitra depends on three clues: the cloth support, the natural-pigment palette and the iconography with a decorative border. A Madhubani painting may also use line and natural colour, but its characteristic double outline and figural style differ.
Traps that cost marks
- Calling every Indian folk painting Pattachitra.
- Confusing Dhokra casting with sheet-metal work.
- Naming a craft without its material or process.
- Mixing Saura and Pattachitra iconography.