an integral part of our intangible heritage  which bears an essence of folk & traditional media

The three original formats of painting a patachitra from Purulia, Bankura, Birbhum and West Mednipur are-

• Jadano pat or the scroll - showing episodes in sequence in a vertically placed manner - all illustrated along the picture frame one above the other. Usually there are 10 to 15 frames in all.

• The Arelatai pat - here the picture frames are horizontal in nature - bound at both ends by two wooden sticks to enable the patua (the painter cum singer) to unroll the pat as s/he gradually displays it in front of an audience. This usually contain 6 to 8 frames.

• The Choukosh pat or the square pat is a single sheet of rectangular paper which is commonly used to eulogise a deity or an incident.