Detailed cloth and palm-leaf scroll painting from Odisha and West Bengal, closely tied to the temple traditions and deity images it traditionally depicts.
ओडिशा, बंगाल · Odisha, Bengal
Painted on cloth stiffened with a chalk-and-gum paste (patta) or inscribed on dried palm leaves, pattachitra artists work in fine, continuous linework filled with natural pigments, traditionally depicting Jagannath, already covered in this site's Tirtha & Devalaya chapter, and scenes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata.
The style is closely associated with Puri and Raghurajpur in Odisha, where an entire village of artisan families continues the craft, and pattachitra images are traditionally repainted onto the Jagannath temple's deities during their annual period of ritual seclusion.