Pothi Chitra by Muskaanarora

Chitra-Pothi By: Sneha Agrawal Muskaan Arora

Contents Acknowledgement.........................................................5 Preface..........................................................................7 Introduction....................................................................8-9 History...........................................................................10-12 1.Tradition.....................................................................13 1.1.Palm Leaf............................................................14-16 1.2.Patron,Scribe and Artist......................................17-28 1.3.Pushpika..............................................................29-33 2.Living..........................................................................34-36 3.Culture........................................................................37-39 4.Preparations...............................................................40 4.1.Palm Leaves Treatment......................................41-45 4.2.Tools....................................................................46-48 4.3.Measurements.....................................................49 4.3.1.Measurement Of Leaf..................................49 4.3.2.Measurement Of Stylus...............................49 4.4.Way Of Writing.....................................................50 4.5.Precautions..........................................................51 4.6.Colors...................................................................52-53 4.7.Color Theory.........................................................54 4.8.Illustration.............................................................55

5.Manuscript............................................................56 5.1.Oriya Kavya.....................................................57 5.1.1.Story........................................................57-58 5.2.Chitra Kavya....................................................59 5.3.Ragmala..........................................................60-61 5.4.Shipla Shahtras...............................................62-63 5.5.Rati Bandha.....................................................64-65 5.6.Yanta Mantra Tantra........................................66-67 6.Art.........................................................................68 6.1.Illustrating the text...........................................69-71 6.2.Palm Leaf Art...................................................72-78 7.Present Scenario..................................................80-83 7.1Government Policies.........................................83 8.Development.........................................................84-85 9.Forms....................................................................86-87 10.CSR Strategy......................................................88-90 The team..................................................................92 Experience...............................................................93-97 Bibliography..............................................................98

Acknowledgement We would like to thank our dean Dr. Sanjay Gupta of school of fashion and design, GD Goenka University, for giving us the opportunity to observe and gain knowledge with the artisian. We would also like to thank all the artisian of Orissa who shared with us all the primary and secondary information. We are very thankful to everyone who all supported us,for we have completed the project effectively and moreover on time. We would like to express our special thanks of gratitude to our mentor-Mrs.Koshalpreet Kaur and our other faculties who helped us a lot in gathering different information, collecting data and guiding us from time to time in making this project .Despite of their busy schedules ,they gave us different ideas in making this project unique. We are making this project not only for marks but to also increase my knowledge .

Preface The craftmen is not a individual expressing individual whom, but a part of the universe,giving expression to ideals of external beauty and unchanging laws,even as do the trees and flowers whose natural and less ordered beauty is not less God given (A.K Coomaraswamy in GOI 1900a) The report presents our version of events connected with the production and appraisal of paintings over a specific period of time.One of our central concern has been to make people aware about patta painting and convey an impression of the contesting pririoties and interests of the local painters and their critics.We have taken certain liberty to discuss certain points while ignoring the other.

The word pustaka and which is strung protected by a

pothi is a derivative from the sanskrit denotes a pile of palm leaves with writings on them, on a cord through pre-bored holes in the centre and pair of wooden covers at top and bottom of the pile.

Orissa has had its own school of miniature painting in the traditional pata-chitra, made by the Chitrakar.These paintings were all on religious subjects and were mainly done for use in rituals and sale to pilgrims. Orissan palm leaf art is also different from the Nepalese, Pala and Jain miniature paintings on palm-leaf and thus deserves special study. Orissan miniature art can be divided into 2 main categories,the patas and the palmâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;leaf.Pata is the traditional style of Orissan painting which developed in close association with various rituals in the Jagannath temple in Puri.Pata paintings depicted gods and goddesses of Hindu pantheon and stories from the Indian mythology. They painted patas as a caste ceiling and supplied them to temples and monastriesfor ritual use on ceremonial occasions. They also sold them to princes and landlords as art objects. Source:chitra-pothi Author:Dr.J.P Das

Introduuction

In Orissa all writings was done on pothis till about the end of 19th century and the state thus possessed a large number of such palm leaf manuscripts. The great hoard of pothis came to the notice of English scholars almost immediately after the british occupation of Orissa in 1803. Colonel Mackenzi collected some pothis from Ganjam and Koraput districts and there were preserved in the oriental Manuscripts Library in Madras. A list of 107 Oriya writers and their works and of 47 manuscripts of undertermined authorship, prepared on the basis of palm-leaf manuscripts, was appended to Hunter’s Orissa Vol.2 published in 1872.Rajendra Lal Mitra published ‘’Notices of Manuscripts preserved in the Asiatic Society, Bengal before 1989 A.D.’’, in which he referred to many manuscripts collected from Orissa. Collection of manuscripts was one of the important activities of the Ravenshaw College Museum at Cuttack (established in 1932), which was later converted into Orissa Provincial Museum and later called the Orissa State Museum, Prachi Samiti of Cuttack, Barpada Museum of Mayurbanj and Raghunanda Library of Puri also made valuable collection of pothis.

history

In 1950, a separate section of manuscripts was opened in the Orissa State Museum, which is now the largest repository of Oriya pothis. The other good collections of Oriya pothis are in the Utkal Univerisity Library, Bhubaneswar, Oriya Department of Vishwa Bharti, Shantiniketan, Berhampur University Library, Berhampur and the Aurobindo Sagrahalay, Udaypur.

Hunter was the first to bring the illustrations of the Oriya chitra-pothi to public notice when he reproduced â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Three pages of an illustrated palm-leaf Book in the Uriya Characterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in his Orissa in 1872. A study of the art of the chitra-pothi was made for the first time by O.G.Gangoli when he wrote about an illustrated manuscript of Bhagavata from Orissa in 1938. Orissa has had its own school of miniature painting in the traditional pata-chitra, made by the Chitrakar caste of people.

Source:chitra-pothi Author:Dr.J.P Das

tradition Source:chitra-pothi Author:Dr.J.P Das

1.1 Palm Leaf Palm (tala in Saskrit and Oriya) is a sacred tree in India and the fruit of the palm tree is used in offerings to dieties. In the Parasurameshwar temple in Bhubaneswar (7th century AD), there is sculpture of a devotee making an offering of a palm fruit. Palm has been treated as sacred in Buddhist literature too. The use of palm-tree for writing has a long tradition in India. Old palm-leaf manuscripts are hard to come by due to the perishable nature of the leaves.The oldest datable palm-leaf manuscripts now extant is stated to be a copy of Abhinava Gita Govinda by Gajapati Purushottama Deva now in the Orissa State Museum, which is said to have been copied on April 6, 1494 AD. Epigraphic evidence of the use of palm-leaf for writing in Orissa goes back much further, to the sixth century AD. The kurud charter of Maharaja Narendra issued from his champ of victory at Tilakeswara records the renewal of the frant of the village Kesavala. This village had been formerly granted in a palm-leaf charter to one Bhasrutaswami by the previous King, but as the palm leaf was destroyed in fire, Maharaja Narendra of Sankhaswami, son of Bhasrutaswami. Maharaja Narendra was a Sarabhapuriya King of South Kosala in the 6th century AD.

A Copper plate inscription of the Shailodbhava dynasty (7th-8th centuries AD) is also considered as having been copied from a palm-leaf. The charters were first copied on palm-leaf and later engraved on metal by a coppersmith or engraver. It is interesting to note that many of the copper plates were made in the shape and size of palm leaves. In Orissa, horoscopes are also traditionally written on palm-leaf. A caste of people in Orissa called Nahakas are professional horoscope makers who use palm-leaf and iron styles to cast the horoscope of new born infants. They are sent for immediately after a child is born and a horoscope is a proud possession of the Oriya household.

Source:chitra-pothi Author:Dr.J.P Das

Though paper came to general use in Indian in the 13th century it was introduced in Orissa only after the Muslim conquest of Orissa in 1568 AD. However, even after this date, palm-leaf continued as the main writing material, not only for literary and religious texts, but also for documents and deeds.

1.2 .Patron,Scribe and artist

Many of the land grants and leases and promisory notes were written on palm-leaf and authenticated by revenue officials. When the British came to Orissa early in the 19th century, the position was still the same and the Oriyas had not switched over from palm-leaf to paper. Even till recently writing religious text on palm-leaf was considered as act of piety.Even after the availability of printed books, scribes continued to copy text on the palm-leaf, sometimes using the printed books to copy from.Palm-leaf was considered so sacred that even after printing press came to Orissa, important texts got printed on palm-leaf instead of paper.

Source: chitra-pothi Author:Dr.J.P Das

Though a pothi was sometimes written by a person for his own use, it was the professional scribe who usually wrote the manuscripts for patrons. The colophon of a pothi reads as follows: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The writing was completed in the year 1238(1831 AD) on the second day of Sharvana month at one in the afternoon on Tuesday.The scribe is aparti mohanty of Kelupada who wrote it as per the order of VAISHANAV DAS.Having completed the book Mohanty took it to Das, who was happy to see it.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; (Orissa state museum, manuscript no. OL.1711.

Sometimes the scribe physically sat on the verandah of SRI LAKSHAMI NARAYAN KANUNGO, who bought the book . if he had literary proclivities, the scribe described his sale of the book to the patron with euphemisms: ‘ the most revered , foremost among the learned, repository of all qualities, respectable, SIR. This humble scribe, having written NAVARATANA GITA on palm leaf with a stylus, offers it to the lotus palm of your honour and would consider his labours worthwhile if this is accepted.’ . In a rare case, the price was metioned. A manuscript was given in exchange for a window frame. Another was sold ‘for a proper price’ and a third was priced at a rupee and a quarter. The price of gitanwada, a religious text was stated to be ‘regular reading.’ A patron sometimes commissioned a pothi to be given as dowry. A copy of gita was got copied to be given to Meenakshi, daughter of Kashi of Barhmpur.

Brahmin scribes usually copied sanskrit manuscripts relating to veda, tantra, ayurveda and jyotish texts. Scribes belonging to Karan caste also copied sanskrit kavyas. At least one among the forty thousand pothis in the Orissa state museum library was copied by a woman, Lakshmipriya Jemadei. Mathura-Mangala, a kavya based on Krishna, was copied by a muslim, Naseeb khan, son of Dhani khan of Khurdha in the year 1938. Naseeb Khan also copied seven other manuscripts, some of them hindu religious texts. There is even an instance of a pothi having been copied by convicts while serving a sentence. The scribes Banamali, a brahmin and ramakrishna, a karan copied the pothi while they were convicts in the Cuttack jail. They mention in the colophon that whle doing convict labour on the banks of river Kathjodi they would carry palm leaves and stylus with them and write the pothi under the benevolent eyes of prison guard Noor Mohammed. They wore this for a patron, one pindika, a karan of banki in the 35th anka ramachandra (1846 AD).

Though there were many scribes copying pothis, there were not many who did chitra-pothis. These manuscripts had to be carefully prepared, with proper space left for illustrations when the text had been written. Most often, therefore, the scribe and the artist of chitra-pothi was one and the same person. One of the most profolic scribe artist of chitra-pothis was Sarathi Madala Patnaik, a Karan by caste who lived in Chasa Limikhandi village in Ganjam district. He gave a complete colophon at the end of each pothi he copied and a typical one reads as follows: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The book was completed on the 10th day of October, 1887 Samvatsara(AD), in the 47th anka of Shri Shri Virashri Lakshmi Narayana Maharaja on the 26th day of the dark fortnight of kartika, on a Monday, in the presence of deity Sri Raghunath a haprabhu who is installed in the village school of Gada Muktha Chasa Limikhandi village of Vijayanagar Taluka. The scribe is the humble sarathi madala patnaik who seeks the protection of Sita-Rama.

There is a chitra-pothi of rasapoi done by Sarathi Madala in 1878 AD and a Kripasindhu Janana done by him in 1908 AD. He seems to have been a professional scribe copying and illustrating pothis over a period of about 30 years. He copied the books in his own village, sitting in the courtyard of the several temples near the village school. He copied mainly Oriya kavya manuscripts: Dasapoi,Premasudhanidhi, Shobhavati, Rasapoi etc. one could imagine him sitting in the temple courtyard, bent over a palm leaf, stylus in hand, looking like the typical suffering scribe described in the colophons. There are a few other names of the scribe artist that one comes across. Ramakrishna das, who only mentioned his name in the colophon and did not give any clue as to his address or the date of copying, copied many Gita Govinda manuscripts as also dasapoi. We came across an author-scribe-artist combination in Dhananjaya, a brahmin who wrote and illustrated the Sarvanga Sundari commentary of Gita Govinda (Orissa State Museum. Ext 166). â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;A brahmin, Dhananjay, by name, wrote the gita govinda together with commentary and pictures in the 39th anka of Raja Mukunda deva on thrusday in ashwina month.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

An important artist was Raghunath Prusti belonging to the caste of oilman from Mudamarai in Dharkot. He copied, and presumably did the illustrations too, of sangita damodara and Kripasindhu Janan(no 1100 in Aurobindo Sangrahlay, Udaypur). Whereas most literate people of Orissa had some pothis in family possession, chitra-pothis were commisioned and owned by rich elite. There were many princely and feudatory states and estates in Orissa, and the Rajas and Zamindars prided themselves in having chitra-pothis have been collected from erstwhile princely states and zamindari estates. It was also tradition in Orissa to present an illustrated manuscript of Gita Govinda, on the VijayaDasami day,to rajas,officials and other important persons of society. There were professional scribes who earned their livelihood copying manuscripts. As a scribe puts it: â&#x20AC;&#x153; this scribe knows nothing. He has no other skills. even if he has other skills, they are of no use. His name is Sarveshwar. He has started a school for children and has devoted himself to copying Chhanda books.â&#x20AC;?

Generally the scribe was just another craftsman in the society and eked out a living company pothis. Fortunately, there was enough demand to sustain the scribe, for gentleman still preferred to possess palm-leaf pothis, even when printed books were available. In 1916, a pothi of Nireveda Sadhna gita, with 154 folios, was sold by scribe four a rupee and 4 annas when the printed books would have been much cheaper).besides, many texts had not gone into print and this also helped the scribes to continue in their proffession. Writing of pothis was mainly done in Cuttack, Puri and Ganjam districts of Orissa which had a tradition of literature. People of all castes worked as scribes, though traditionally it was the karan which was the caste of scribes. Karans were identified as writers right through the early parts of this century. As a matter of fact, karans were sometimes disparagingly called patar-kala or leaf incisor. It may be intersting to note that in early copper plates of Orissa, it was the Kayastha who first wrote the charter, which was then engraved onto copper by the Vijnami (engraver).These scribes used to be called Karanika and Adhikaranika.

The artists and illustrators came from different castes unlike their brethren the pata painters who came only from the chitrakar caste. Whereas chitrakars were shudaras, belonging to lowest rungs of the society, palm leaf scribe-illustrators often belonged to brahmin and other high castes. The patrons of chitra pothi were naturally rich men. The price of chitra-pothi depended on the number and the quality of illustrations. The artist sometimes repeated the same or similar illustrations on a number of pages to increase their number and get a higher price for the pothi.

1.3 Pushpika

Most Orissan palm-leaf manuscripts have a pushpika at the end, giving the name of the scribe and the date of copying just as we have today the name of the author and the publisher and the date of publication of the printed book. In recording the date in the colophon, the scribes followed the anka or the regnal year (anka shrahi) of the Raja of Puri. As a matter of fact, this system is still followed in Orissa in recording the date in horoscopes. The calculation of the anka has some peculiarities. The first year of the reign is treated as the 2nd anka and in the notations, the years whose numerals end with 6 or 0 are dropped. Thus if the anka year is 50, the actual regnal years will be 41 as the numbers 1, 6, 16, 20, 26, 30, 36, 40 and 46 are not counted. The colophon also mentioned the day, the lunar fortnight and the month of regnal year on which the book was completed. To give an instance, the colophon of Sangita Damodara reads as follows:

“the book was written in 33rd anka of Maharaja Sri Divyasingha deva on 7th day the dark fortnight of jyestha on 3rd day of the week.” Divyasingha Deva I reigned from 1687 to 1715 AD. The 33rd anka year equals the 27th year of reign (having dropped 1, 6, 16, 20, 26 and 30 from the reckoning). So the writing of the book can be assigned to the year 1714 AD. A difficulty sometimes arises since many of the Rajas of Puri bore the same name. for instance, there have been 3 divyasingha devas. In such cases one has to go to other clues. Divyasingha mentioned in sangita damodara has to be Divyasingha I or III since Divyasingha II did not have 33 anka years. In cases of further doubt, one could refer to the ephemeris- in the instant case to find out the year in

Many colophons clearly mention the commisioning of a pothi and its execution by the scribe. It is worth reproducing the following colophons: “Oh you learned men, please read it taking into account both the correct and incorrect writing and do not blame the scribe. The book was completed at 10 on thrusday, the 13th day of Vrisha and the 3rd day of bright fortnight of Jyestha in Sri Divyasingha Deva Maharaja’s 25th anka, in sana 1287 (1880 AD). The scribe of this book is Parikshita Mishra of Pragana Sungha, Mauza Jhadasarapur. Shankar swain of Sri Ramakrishnapur Banpur gave me an advance and commissioned the writing. He borrowed the book and did not returned it.He was cursed as that his seven generations will go to hell. In Sana 1291(1884 AD) on Saturday, the 10th day of Bichha, Nabaghana Das of Pragana Matakata Nagar , Mauza Dharapur bought the book”

Apparently the man who commissioned the book did not take it and so it was sold to another. In another case, Paramananda Jena, son of Chaitanya Jena of Mauza Geruala, had commissioned a copy of Dharmasagara and had paid an advance. Since he did not take the book, the scribe Bhagirathi Mishra returned the money and kept the book himself. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sri Ramahari tripathy commissioned the writing of this book. Since your mind was set on this book, I wrote this with great labour. I am a son to you and am depending on you. If you desire some other book (to be copied), sent message to me. I copy the way I see (the original) and your ramahari is my refuge. I am in great difficulty. Please continue to have kindness towards me.â&#x20AC;?

2. Living Raghurajpur is a heritage crafts village in Puri district, Odisha, known for its master Pattachitra painters, an art form which dates back to 5 BC.In the region and Gotipua dance troupes, the precursor to the Indian classical dance form of Odissi; it also known as the birthplace of one of finest Odissi exponents and Guru, Kelucharan Mohapatra. Apart from that the village is also home to crafts like Tussar paintings, palm leaf engravings, stone and wood carvings, wooden, cowdung and papier mache toys, and masks. In 2000, after a two-year research and documentation project by INTACH, starting 1998, the village was chosen to be developed as stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first heritage village and developed as a Crafts village, soon the village had an interpretation centre, commissioned artwork on the walls of the artistsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; homes and a rest house.

Source: http://www.spiceflair.com/ wp-content/uploads/Raghurajpur/Welcome%20to%20Raghurajpur.jpg

It also has the distinction of the only place where the traditional decoration called Patas, used under the throne of Lord Jagannath and on the three chariots during the annual Rath Yatra festival, that takes place at pilgrimage town of Puri, some 14 km away, known for the Jagannath Temple.

Cultutre

Source: http://metrojournalist. com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/ Pattachitra-article-2.jpg

Source: http://www.incredibleindia.org/eri/Images/sites/Raghurajpur/images/image1.jpg

Source: http://blog.gaatha.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/raghurajpur-village1.jpg

Source: https:// c2.staticflickr. com/8/7194/6812656576_ c0af96b313_z.jpg

Source: http://3.bp.blogspot. com/-a-FeIKlDoi4/UyPHqoEN-UI/ AAAAAAAACsc/2nfJgIVLrlg/ s1600/OdishaFACT1-Raghurajpur. jpg

Source: http://www.intach.org/images/ban-patta-painting-raghuraj.jpg

4.1. Palm Leaves Traetment The making of a chitra-pothi involved preparation of the palmleaves, writing of the text (leaving space for decoration and illustrations), illumination (embellishment of abstract designs), illustration (addition of figural paintings) and finally the adornment of the covers. In India, two types of palm-leaves have been used in manuscript, the Palmyra and the Talipot. Both are fan palms, but the leaves Palmyra are thick, of shorter length and difficult to write on whereas those of Talipot are thinner, longer and delicate. The first variety is fragile and tends to weaken and rot quickly. The latter variety is flexible and has tensile strength which makes it more durable.

Source:Pinterest

4. Preparations

Palm leaves are first cut into the required sizes and treated with a solution of turmeric, as the antibacterial properties of turmeric ensure longevity of the painting. Once dried for a few days, the leaves are ready for painting.Since the painting can only be done between the veins of the palm leaves, they are all more or less a standard size.

Two layers are stuck together and a few of such strips are together with a thread, to create a scroll that compresses into a very compact block of zigzag folds. Sometimes the artists paint first and then stitch the strips together, such as when they want to insert colourful paper between the layers, to show through the fine cuts made in the illustrations. The preparation of ‘pattis’ or the canvas for painting involves binding two layers of cotton fabric with a gum made from tamarind seeds and then coating it with a white paste made of a powdered limestone and tamarind seeds. Once this is dry, the cloth is polished to make it smooth and suitable for painting.

Palmyra manuscripts were written on through incision with iron stylus, whereas Talipot manuscripts were written on with reed pen and ink. In Orissa, Palmyra leaves were used through in neighbouring Bengal and in western Indian Manuscripts, Talipot was used. There is no evidence of use of Talipot in Orissa. “The pothis are composed of the leaves of the palm-trees, which serve manifold purposes; when tied together as a broom, when spread out as a fan, when put between bamboos as a tatti when fixed with a handle as an umbrella and when evenly cut and seasoned as talpatra or the depositry in writing of local knowledge. All leaves are not fit for being written. The leaves must be neither too old, nor too young, neither too much torn up nor too much curved. Those which are three or four months old, just when the leaves are spreading, are preferred. They are intact, greenish-looking, longer and broader. According to length and breadth they are sorted, the longest and the broadcast on the inner leaves being considered the best.

Source: http://www. riace.in/workshop/ images/palmleafpainting/1.jpg

The thread further passes through a wooden cover at each end. The wooden covers serve as a guard to the leaves, and are often carved. The string is sufficiently long (2 to 5 ft) to be wound round the book over and over. The edges of the leaves are then cut even by some cutting instrument and next rubbed smooth with a stone. The book is then fit for a pothi, and is known as sanchi.

4.2. Tools The painting on palm leaves is a unique process, as ink or pens are not directly used to apply colour. Instead, an iron stylus has to be used with extreme care, to etch the drawing on to the brittle surface, making sure that it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t go wrong or the leaf doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t break. Next comes the writing instrument which is an iron stylus locally known as Lekhani. The stylus is usually plain but is often ornamented. In Orrisa three varieties of stylus are used, according to the shape of upper end, viz. 1)Either sharp-pointed 2)Knife-shaped 3)Ear-shaped The lower-end of the stylus is sharp as the end of a needle, and is used to cut letters on palm leaves. The sharp portion of the upper end is employed in cutting the palm leaves. Once the drawing is inscribed,lamp black is rubbed all over the leaf and then it is cleaned, giving fine black colour to the carved lines, while rest of the surface stays clean. The artists also sometimes make very small cut outs in the painting, to give it a stencil like appearance. This requires a great deal of precision and skill, as the palm leaf is brittle and has directional grains, which interferes with a smooth usage of the cutting blade.

Such beautifully placed cut outs make the painting even more intricate and lace like.Sometimes the artists use colour to beautify the painting, by inserting coloured paper between the layers or by painting with natural colours. Such developments have been quite recent compared to the ancientness of the art and have taken it to a new level. What makes this craft even more unique is that unlike many other handicrafts, which are struggling to maintain their age old standards of fineness, palm leaf paintings are evolving a higher quality of craftsmanship and aesthetic. From an ancient method of documentation, the Talapatrachitra has become a treasured art, thriving under the growing skills of the master craftsmen of Orissa.

Source:Pinterest

4.3. Measurements 4.3.1 measurement of leaf The leaves were sometimes cut into different shapes making manuscripts in the shape of a fish, a sword, or a mouse. A standard pothi was usually of leaves about 35 cm long and 4 cm wide Source:Pinterest

The chitrakara of Orissa uses buffalo hair to make brushes for the thick lines while rat or squirrel hair is used for making brushes meant for finer line work. According to the text, ‘Manasaullasa’, the crayon for initial sketches or ‘vartika’ is to be made by mixing lamp black with boiled rice paste and rolled into sticks. According to yet another text,‘Shilparatna’ ‘kitta lekhani’ or the writing/drawing instrument was a wick made out of the dust of bricks and dried cowdung made into a paste.

Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ commons/a/a5/Lekhani.JPG

There were, however, pothis of much bigger size some going to even 65 cm long. There were small pothis too. There is a pothi in the Orissa state museum which is 6.2 cm long and 3 cm wide. Leaves were also sometimes stitched together to give the artist larger area to work on. 4.3.2 measurment of stylus “Writing was done by etcing or incising on the leaf with an iron stylus called a lekhana or lekhani. The stylus was from 15 to 25 cm long and usually fan shaped top. There was some stylus with two writing ends, called domuna or double pointed.

4.4. WAy of writing

4.5 Precautions

The normal way of writing on the palm-leaf was for the scribe to sit on the floor and write with the stylus, holding the palm-leaf on the knee. If it was to be chitra-pothi, the scribe took care, while writing the text to leave space for embellishments and illustrations. When written on and illustrated, the pile of leaves were strung on a cord through a hole in the centre and held together by pair of wooden covers at top and bottom of the pile. The covers were sometimes carved and painted on, specially in the cse of chitra-pothis. In rare cases, ivory covers have been used. For safe keeping, several pothis used to be bundled together and tied with cloth. Deer skin was sometimes used to wrap pothis.

The palm leaves are fragile and do not last long. In addition no special care is taken to prserve them. As they are mainly damaged in the rains, the only precaution taken is to expose them to the sun in the month of Bhadra when sun shine very hot. Against white ants so common in Orissa, the only precaution is to keep them on raised bamboo platform a man high or on shelved platforms, when the number is large. The use of camphor etc is unknown, and a white insect with two standing hairs on the head commits much depredation. Time also plays great havoc, the old palm leaves crumbling to pieces. Hence after 30 or 40 years the pothis have to be recopied.

The width of the palm leaf was good enough to write ten lines if the letters were small and only about four five lines if the letters were big. In many chirta pothis, one comes across blank spaces, which were apparently left for illustrations, but were incised. This would confirm the presumption that the text was written first, leaving blank areas for doing illustrations later. Since the scribe was often himself the illustrator, he knew exactly how much space to leave for embellishments and illustrations.

4.6. colors black burning lamp

White Conch Shell

Source: http://freelancefolder.com/wp-content/uploads/oil-lamp-khandurahul-e1304094834649.jpg Source: http://www.ahuiicraftsandshells.com/ images/conchshell.jpg

blue indigo

Yellow Haritala Source: http://www.boldsystems.org/pics/_ w300/LSAFR/IMG_5404%2B1331311266.jpg

Source: http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/homehort/ plant/images/saya_1136980094_135.jpg

red Geru

Source: http://1.wlimg.com/product_images/bcfull/dir_5/125539/rock-salt-geru-134035.jpg

green leaves

Source: http://terawallpaper.com/wp-content/ uploads/2014/03/Green-Leaves-Wallpaper.jpg

4.7. color theory

4.8. illustrations

Source:Pinterest

Pattachitra has a distinctive style of painting the Gods and Goddesses not in naturalistic colours, but according to certain conventions wherein the‘sattvika’, ‘rajasika’ and the ’tamsika‘ aspects of the Gods are expressed in white, red and black colors respectively.The characters have their own colours according to the “Rasa” they portray, for example, “Hasya” or laughter inducing in white, “Raudra” or furious in red, “Abdhuta” or strange in yellow, and so on.

In the typical style of Pattachitra, the faces of characters have long beak like noses, prominent chins and elongated eyes. They are distinguished from each other by facial features, hairstyles, clothing etc. Central focus of the painting is the expression of the figures and the emotion they portray, the strong colors only reinforce them.

Source:Pinterest

One of the most distinct features of patta is the variety of ornate borders that are used to give a frame like appearance. The traditional borders are derived from the temple sculpture motifs of Orissa. One of the most popular border designs is that of two entwined snakes which can also be seen on the doorway of the Konark temple.

5.1. oriya kavyas

Source: http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/features/02-07/palm4.jpg

5. MAnuscript

The 17th and 18th century were golden age of kavya literature. the earl kavyas like shishu Shankar dasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ushabhilasha were based on stories from mythology, Upendra introduced,for the first time in Oriya literature.One does not find any illustrated pothi of later poet Gopala Krishna.The story of all kavyas written during this period were so unashamedly uniform that the frame work of these romances are generalised by the illustrations.

5.1.1 story The story opens with description of a beauteous girl attending on parvati or radha in the heaven.Some prince sees her and falls in love with her who return his love.For this Parvati or Radha curses her to take birth as women but on her entreaties ,changes the curse to human life with her lover as her lover as husband.The girl is born as a princess and the lover as a prince.There childhood and youth are then described.The hears of the other and falls in love. After some manoeuvring they meet and fall more deeply in love.This grenerally leads to marriage

A few months are spend in happiness and then the lovers are separated by a Deux Ex Machina.Each is obliged to live 1 Year apart from the other.Several cantos then described the grief of the lovers and their passionate outbursts as one season passes and the other arrives.By the grace of the goddess,they are reunited and hence forth live a happy life.They become king and queen,and after death they are taken back to the heavens. This golden age of oriya literature was also the golden age of the art chitra pothi for many pothis were copied and illustrated during this period,thanks to the patronage from the princely courts.

5.2. Chitra Kavya It can be described as visual art poetry in which letters of the alphabet under a particular disposition induce the shape of lotus, chariot,tree or serpaint etc.Upendra had used chitra kavya configurations in his early kavyas.Upendra tried to make the bandha relevant to the text using a design connective with the narration.Eg.gara (club)and Shara(arrow).Bandha are used in the canto dealing with the battle between the Rama and Ravana and the tree bandha in the context of the monkeys. Chitra kavya bandhodaya, however, used the bandhas for their own sake.This book became very popular as seen from the large number of manuscript copies available.Some times the bandhas designs for this book were also woven into fabrics by weavers of Orissa.Some are simple bandhas like the ashta â&#x20AC;&#x201C;padma(8petals lotus).Most of the chitra kavya bandhodaya manuscript contains only the bandha poems.

Source: http://img394.imageshack.us/img394/5349/800pxdevimahatmyasanskr.jpg Source: chitra-pothi Author:Dr.J.P Das

5.3 .Ragmala Jayadeva indicatedthe raga(melodic mode or structure with a fixed sequence of notes) with which each song of Gita Govinda was to be sung.Gita Govinda thus became a model of a poem composed to be sung to various ragas. Two beautifull chitra pothis of the book sangeeta damodara ,one in the Orissa state museum and other in,an incomplete one in national museum.In describing the ragas the text follows the visualisation of the melodies in dhyan amurtis or meditative images.

Source: http://www.barbarapijan.com/bpa/Nakshatra/Chandra_27Nakshatra/Asavari_Ragini,_Ragamala,_1610.jpg

Source: chitra-pothi Author:Dr.J.P Das

5.4. shipla shastras There is large body of literature on Shilpa Shastra in India.They give elaborate classifications and description of types of temples, towns,houses,market etc for the study and preservation of the art forms that have been in use since the most ancient times .Many shilpa text have been found in Orissa too in palm leaves manuscripts. Nirmal Kumar Bose was the first to study the Shilpa Shastra.A major book on the subject published in 1966 was Shilpa parkasha ,a medieval Orissa Sanskrit text on temple architecture.Even today manucrpits of shilpa texts can be found in the possessions of persons belonging to the painter or sculptor caste in Orissa. Some Shilpa shastras discuss and gave illustrations of arms and armaments, tools, doorframes, tigertrap, crownes and various house hold articles.One such maniuscriptis available in Vishwa Bharati collection. According to Vishnudharmottaram,divided attention is a picture spoiling factor and the artist has to take resort to a dhyana mantra to avoid distraction.The artist is to recite the dhyana mantra which describes the deity, he is drawing or modelling and this is supposed to help him form a mental image of the deity and concentrate on his work. Source: chitra-pothi Author:Dr.J.P Das

5.5. rati bandha A text which was immensely popular with artist was Gopala Bhanja’s Chausathi Rati bandha and we find a large number of chitra pothis of this book.The word chausathi is the title (chatushasti)means 64 which seems to be magic number so far as treaties on love and love making are concerned.Chausathi rati bandha borrows from kaliyana malas ananga ranga, pandit Kokkakka’s Rati Rahasya, kavishekhara’s Panchashayaka and Miananatha’s Smaradipika.These books were written between 12th-15th centuries and were heavily based on Kama sutra. Chausathi rati-bandha is no original work ,but takes its content from several earlier works even as Vastsyayana’s Kama Sutra was the culmination of a long tradition which, according to legend, began with Pashupati, the creater of mankind who first gave the teachings of love. The teachings were passed on by Shiva’s mount Nandi who was inspired by Shiv and Parvati who were locked away making love for 1000 yrs.

Source: chitra-pothi Author:Dr.J.P Das

64 positions have been mentioned in Sarala das’s Mahabharat on several occasions, as also in subsequent Oriya kavyas.Most of the chitra –pothis of this text,however ,have very crude illustrations, which can be explained by the fact that there was a great demand for the text and many pothis got written and illustrated by artists who were not so good in their work.

5.6. Yantra mantra Tantra Besides kavyas and treaties ,there were many odd texts which were illustrated in palm-leaf manuscripts.A popular text was the so called Swapna Vichara or Book of Dreams,which described the effects of dreams on the person who had the dream. If one dreamt buffalo, on the other hand, one was afflicted with diseases and got many frights, one lost friends and oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s belongings. There are also illustrated texts having geometrical diagrams with mystic symbols,letters and pictures accompanied by mantras .The diagrams are called Yantras (tools) which are concrete form of the mantras used for protective as well as evil purposes.

Source: chitra-pothi Author:Dr.J.P Das

In one of the pothis,there is a yantra ,a series of letters in 2 squares , arranged as a crossword puzzle.the squares with the letters are to be incised on both sides of a palm leaf and when this is tied ,â&#x20AC;&#x2122;the ghost leaves forthwithâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; according to the text.Similiarly,someYantras are to be inscribed on copper and tied around the neckto exorcise ghosts or the evil Shani.There is a textcalled Yantras Chudamani containing a number of geometrical diagrams with mystic symbols,letters and pictures which are supposed to evoke supernatural powers .Many of the Yantras were to be used for preparation and installation of images.Some jyotish texts also contains similar mystic diagrams and figures.

6.1. ILLUSTRATING THE TEXT When taking up the writing and illustration of a pothi, the scribe-artist had first to decide as to how many illustrations he was going to use with the text. A text could be profusely illustrated, the illustrations sometimes repeated page after page. It was customary to start a chittra-pothi with a picture of Ganesha, the god of learning and well-being. Some pothis also had the picture of Sarasvati, the goddess of learning on the front page. If it was the erotic text Rati-bandha, it invariably had a picture of Kandarpa, the god of love.

6. Art

Source:http://www.michaelbackmanltd. com/sitebuilder/images/IMG_6486692x521-764x490.jpg

In a well-illustrated chitra-pothi, the scribe-artist tried to give some picture on every page. To do this he had to divide the available space between text and illustration. Sometimes he preferred to have a whole page of text followed by an entire page of illustrations, but it was mostly half a page of illustrations and half a page of text.In case of kavyas based on fictional stories with many dramatic events, the artist had greater opportunity of displaying his skill. He sometimes used the comic-book style of depicting an incident in a succession of illustrations.

Sometimes a sequence of events is shown in a same illustration. In the sapta-sala incident of Ramayana, Sugriva wants to test the prowess of Rama and asks him to lift the carcass of the mighty demon Dundubhi. Rama easily lifts the carcass with his foot and kicks it away. Sugriva is still not convinced and asks Rama to cut down the seven sala trees with one shot of his arrow. The trees are encircled by a snake and Rama first straightens the snake which brings the sala trees to a line and he cuts down the trees with his arrow. He then kills Sugrivaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s enemy Vali when the two adversaries are locked in a combat. All these incidents have been shown in a single composition. The illustrator invariably gave a caption to each picture. The caption was sometimes borrowed verbatim from the text itself, but was often in the nature of an explanatory note describing the event or action. The artist sometimes tried to illustrate descriptions like the sunrise or the sunset. It is interesting to note that the captions on the pictures were always in the Oriya language, even when the text was in Sanskrit. In the course of illustrating the texts, the artist had to cover all possible subjects. In chitra-pothi illustrations, there are gods and goddesses, kings and noblemen, princesses and their maids, messengers and beggars, demons and mythical creatures. There are temples and palaces, lakes and gardens, court and country side.

6.2. PALM LEAF ART

Orissan miniature art can be divided into two main categories, the pata and the pam-leaf. Pata is the traditional style of Orissan painting which developed in close association with various rituals in the Jagannath Temple in Puri. It flourished (and still does) as a hieratic art form, depicting only religious subjects.Painted with indigenous pigments on primed pieces of cloth, pata paintings depicted gods and goddesses of the Hindu pantheon and stories from the Indian mythology. Pata is a living art form of Orissa which is still practiced by professional painters as a caste profession. Palm leaf art, on the other hand, developed as a secular art form. Though there are various uses of palm-leaf writing for ritual purposes, there is no ritual or religious use of illustrations on palm-leaf. Unlike the pata painters, palm-leaf artists came from various strata of the Orissan society. It is quite possible that palm-leaf art developed simultaneously with the use of palm-leaf as writing material. Though the bulk of palm-leaf illustrations accompanied literary texts, it is not unusual to find independent pictures unrelated to any text.

Gita Govinda, one of the oldest and most popular writings from Orissa, could possibly be the first text to be illuminated on palm-leaf. Pata was the prevalent form of Orissa when chitra-pothi art came to its own, the latter had to develop its own style due to the nature of the carrier used for the pictures. Palm-leaf art was basically a linear drawing without any scope for modelling either by use of colour or through lines of varying thickness. Despite many similarities which palm-leaf art of Orissa has with other art styles, it has its own individual characteristics which place it apart as a distint style. Palm-leaf illustrations of Orissa drew many elements from Orissan sculpture (combined profile and front view, pillared arches) as also from traditional pata paintings (facial features, figures composition). The artist had to work under severe limitations. Most art forms involve an initial sketch which can be worked over and obliterated while finishing the work.The pictures were pure line work without any efforts at giving them volume through shading or colour. In a Kripasindhu Fanana manuscript, the artist started sketching a figure, but when he got it wrong, covered up his mistake by finishing the half-done sketch into a creeper. Palm-leaf art had developed as a complement to palm-leaf manuscript writing and it withered when printing presses replaced the scribe. Oriya literature, which sustained the writing pothis, entered a new age towards the later part of the nineteenth century.

However for the palm leaf artist,even the first sketch was an incision on the leaf which could not be obliterated.He had to either to abandon the leaf or make do with corrections by overwriting.In a Vandekisha Vilasa manuscript,the artist made a mistake in drawing the design of chakra(wheel) bandha and when he realised it,did another picture near it, allowing the defective one to remain with a caption covering of it. Besides lines and curves ,the artist used hatching, but only for embellishment and for creating designs on the dress and not for shading.The pictures were pure line work without any efforts at giving them volume through shading or color.When he needed to patch a block to represent hair or water ,he managed to close cross hatching.It is interesting to note that through the straight lines ,he did circles with a free hand instead of using a compass. Through palm leaf art normally meant inked etching,color was sometimes used in the illustrations. In some chitra pothis a flat color usually red has been applied as a groundon the unsketched areas of the illustrated portions of the leaf,as in a traditional Orissian pata painting.

One comes across such colouring in Rama Krishna Dasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s manuscripts.A coloured line was sometimes drawn along the incised line to reinforce or highlight it,as in many Sarathi Madala Patnaik manuscripts.In some other cases ,colour (yellow,blue,red) has been used on the face and body and on dress and ornaments. However,such use of colour has tended toblur and obliterate the lines ,thereby making the pictures look weak and unfinished.Applicaion of colour work on palms leaf etching thus followed technique quite different from pata,in which fine black lines work was done after colour had been applied to body,dress,ornements etc. in the paintings.the painted leaf can be treated as aerration and it is only in a rare case that application of colour has added to the beauty of the original incised picture.

7. Present scenario

Chitrakaras today send their children out for exposure and education apart from training them in their family art tradition to ensure that they can run their own business rather than depending on middlemen. Women have also taken up full time painting. Many young girls and women are now under training with a considerable number coming from outside the village as well. The village holds the unique distinction of having maximum concentration of Patta Chitra artists. As per a local survey at least 22 households are pursuing this art form but in practice almost all house-holds in the village are linked with the patta chitra business, they act as artists or promoters. In Orissa,there is an informal division of work in the family and every member is engaged in doing something or the other related to paintings. While the men folk and the boys work on the paintings, the women are busy preparing the canvas, boiling the gum or powdering the pigments in a mortar.

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What makes this craft even more unique is that unlike many other handicrafts, which are struggling to maintain their age old standards of fineness, palm leaf paintings are evolving a higher quality of craftsmanship and aesthetic. From an ancient method of documentation, the Talapatrachitra has become a treasured art, thriving under the growing skills of the master craftsmen of Orissa. In contrast nowadays,the patta chitras discussed here are made for tourist consumption.These paintings are made through out the year with output dropping during the summer and in particularly the rainy season ,when the number of tourist is low.

7.1 GOVERNMENT POLICIES:

The Pattachitra paintings that originate in such small idyllic villages reach across the world. Soaked in Puranic culture and classical romances, with vibrant colours and superb craftsmanship, the Pattachitra has become a distinct art form and has captured the imagination of artists and art lovers alike both in India and abroad.

-The SHG helps organize resources for production and marketing. -Many Pothichitra teaching institutes are being opened -Government sponsors artisianâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s expenses when they go out of station for exibition of their paintings. -They aknowledge their work and give awards as well to motivate them. -They organize various exibition-cum-sale and have opened various craft emporiums for the handicraft product. -Providing insurances to the poor craftman. -To deal with the handicrafts realted issues ,the All India Handicraft Board was established in 1952,to study the problem confronting the handicrafts,to improve and to develop production techniques.

8. Development

Pattachitra training schools: - Three month skill training program: creating capacity to innovate -Adivasi trainee teach different style of paintings -Training is given to improve painting skills -Helps to develop costing to earn their livelihood. -To increase the marketability: -Use of diversity of products -Products are also redesigned professionally -Shops are being created by a group of artisans in market places for accessibility.

9.forms

Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/The_Paintings_on_Betel_nut_(Areca_nut)_by_the_artists_of_Raghurajpur.JPG

Source http://cdn.shofcomfiles/1/0214/5336/products/235_1_1024x102jpeg?v=1387677518

Source: http://3.imimg.com/data3/ BX/NT/MY-8785184/odisha-art-bottles-250x250.jpg

Source: http://local.images.burrp.net/images/evt/m/8/photo_ dakshinachitra_east-coast-road_m8l1pa5h_3hj2_2_150.jpg

Source: http://3.imimg.com/data3/YJ/RJ/MY-5319566/pattachitra-on-palm-leaf-boxes-500x500.jpg

CSR strategy

As Pothi chitra is being traditionally done on palm leaves / paper or walls so it confines the earning of a craft man practising pothi chitra. But nowadays craft man has started doing pothi chitra in various material as well such as plastic bottles and saris etc. but it is not being growing up to the mark. So here are some suggestion we came up with :

Coaster

1) COASTER - People will surerly be attracted to the beautiful art effects engraved on the coaster. 2) CALENDAR - Engraving of sacred dieties such as Lord Krishna , Lord Vishnu on the borders of calendar will increase its value. 3) PHOTO FRAME - Beautiful engraved pothi chitra on the border will look unique and beautiful.

Calender

4) CURTAIN CHIC - Pothi chitra done on curtain chic will give it a new look.

Photo Frame

Curtain Chic

11. Experience

10. The team Muskaan Arora :Editor and Photography Sneha Agrawal :Data Collection and Script writing

BIbliography 1.Niyogi books.,1986.Chitra-pothi by Dr.J.P Das. 2. http://india.gov.in/knowindia/pattachitra.php 3.http://craftorissa.com/b2c/product_info.php?products_ id=112 4.http://www.archive.india.gov.in/knowindia/culture_heritage. php?id=106 5. http://www.paramparik-karigar.org/bystates/pattachitra.html 6. http://www.indianart.in/indian-art-journey/patta-chitra-paintings.html 7. The meticulous process of Pattachitra paintings 8. Radha,Krishna and Gopis in Pattachitra 9. http://www.rabindraart.com/how-to-do-pattachitra.html 10. natural colours used in Pattachitra 11. colour brushes used in Pattachitra 12. http://www.jagannatha.net/painting.html Palm leaf pattachitra 13.Giusti, M. and Chakraborty, U. (ed.). Immagini Storie Parole. Dialoghi di formazione coi dipinti cantati delle donne Chitrakar del West Bengal. Mantova: Universitas Studiorum, 2014, ISBN 978-88-97683-39-1 Source: http://www.dollsofindia.com/images/products/orissa-pata-paintings/ krishna-QA36_l.jpg

A modern Oriya poet, Chintamani Mohanty (1867 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 1943), sings the following paean of praise in his ode to Palm-leaf:

You are priceless A leaf of gold is no match for you Words cannot recount your greatness. In Orissa you are ever worshipped As the root of Knowledge and wisdom Your flag keeps flying in Orissa. Whether it is literature or arithmetic Or history or folk-lore You are the repository of all arts. Other leaves are legion And are trampled under the foot But you are worshipped like a god. Paper now competes with you But in Orissa You are forever undaunted.

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This document has been made and submitted as part of the subject DDD 164 of the first year of the UG programme in design.

TItle : CHITRA POTHI

2014 School of Fashion and Design GD Goenka University