Several posts ago, the author related the life and work of the Swiss sculptor and painter Miss Alice Boner, noting the excellent standing exhibition of her work at the Bharat Kala Bhavan museum on the campus of Benares Hindu University. There is, moreover, an excellent collection of miniatures in the Rahjistani, Mughul, and other traditional styles at the same venue. The living art of the city, however is to be found in the laneways, restaurants, cafes and lassi shops of the old city area behind the central ghats to the Ganges River. And the artists to be found there are almost all of them engaged with, immersed in or otherwise advancing the traditional and sacred arts of India. This is one of the things that makes Benares sacred – it is a living centre of the traditional arts and crafts some of which have unbroken traditions extending back thousands of years.
In a restaurant on the south side of the main ghat, the author encountered a young artist, Sanjay Patra, trained in and keeping alive the tradition of Pattachitra, a miniature painting tradition from Puri in the province of Odessa. Having just come from the exhibition of miniatures in the Bharat Kala Bhavan, the work of Sanjay Patra caught the author’s attention and jostled him out of the complacent assumption that India’s heritage of miniatures is just a matter for museums. Mr. Patra, twenty-seven years old, has been painting and inscribing engraved miniatures in the tradition of Pattachitra since he was in his early teens. He has now – perforce – set up a studio under the stairs at Spicy Bites where he works. He will occasionally sell work from here to tourists and travelers, but primarily this is where he works, not a store but a workshop.
He happily demonstrates his technique. He paints on cloth and – in the Odessean style – he engraves on dried palm leaf strips using a simple metal tool and natural inks. The authentic examples of this art are particular to the area around Puri in Odessa. This is a tradition of miniature painting that extends back deep into the ancient past, and it has largely remained unchanged in that time. The subject matter of the work made in this style is typically from Hindoo mythology. In Mr. Patra’s case his work is largely depicting incidents and scenes and themes from the Ramayana and the life of Krishna.
Although he now resides in sacred Benares, he was born in Puri – and has the documentation to prove it. He learnt Pittachitra – along with classical dance - from his grandfather, a celebrated actor and dramatist, Sri Kalu Patra. Quite apart from the great technical skill to be seen in his work, its quality and intricacy, there is the remarkable fact that Sanjay has a vast mythology at his command, inherited verbally from an early age and held in memory. The tourists and travelers marvel at the detailed beauty of his paintings, but his art serves a sacred purpose, the celebration of the lives of Rama and Krishna, the two great avatars of the Hindoo order. After growing up in Puri he travelled as a young man to Delhi looking for a living; he often went hungry, but he pursued his vocation regardless. Now he has found a niche in the great creative city of Benares (Varanasi).
The medium is dried palm leaf slats which are then bound together. Each composition can be folded up in the manner of a fan or blinds. The design is scratched into the hard smooth surface of the dried slat and then various coloured inks are rubbed into the design.
(Readers might contact Mr.Patra concerning his work at: sanjay.patrachittra@gmail.com.)
Yours
Harper McAlpine Black
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