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

The patuas or the painters of the patachitras were primarily wandering artists - who would travel from place to place with painted scrolls of various deities. Though their exact date of origin as a profession is not known, yet from various oral lores and oral traditions - they can be estimated to have begun as a profession from around 10th - 11th century AD in Bengal. As professional artists - who would frequent the homes of rich people (mostly zamindars and landlords, feudal lords, administrative and police heads, etc.), the patuas would display the scrolls at various households and narrate the different stories of the deities and in return would then be rewarded with cash or in kind or both in the form of grains, food and clothes. Often at the households of the rich and the wealthy, they would be invited on special occasions, e.g. during pujas or religious festivals to narrate the stories pertaining to that specific deity whose puja or worship is being performed, and they would then be rewarded accordingly. This performance was also considered sacred by the spectators and they would sit in humble silence to listen to the patua’s narration in a manner as they would sit in front of a deity during worship or a puja.