The story of Kalighat temple in Kolkata is as old as time itself - something which I have covered in detail in another article of mine. However, Kalighat also inspired a very vibrant school of paintings which flourished between the 19th to 20th century under artists called “Patuas”

These paintings were hand-painted in cloth scrolls which were known as jorano patas. This is from where patachitra gets its name. The artists would hand paint these scrolls and sing them out to the largely illiterate farmer population in rural Bengal.

Around the middle of the 18th century, many of these patuas migrated to Kolkata (near the Kalighat temple) from the villages namely the marshy grounds of rural Bengal. In the seemingly urban and cosmopolitan ethos of Kolkata, these patuas realised that long cloth scrolls would not be feasible to the temple-going folk who wanted a quick and inexpensive fix. Thus, slowly cheap mill-made paper replaced the scrolls.

Slowly and steadily the patachitra paintings started to reflect and embody the time and spirit of the age and place it was situated. The paintings showed socio-economic streaks of the British, Rajput Mughal as well as the Bengali bhadrolok population. It is a very interesting medium through which the 19th-century urban life of Kolkata could be studied.

What personally fascinates and attracts me to the patachitra paintings is the sheer rapine satire, mockery, and humor embedded in it. It is very interesting to note that in spite of being patronised by the bhadrolok babus of Kolkata, most of the patachitra paintings mocked the classic tendencies of the 19th-century noveau riche Bengali Babu which included rampant and shameless indulgence in wine, women, and whorehouses. > Satire and mockery are the most threatening forms of humor and the Kalighat painters sure knew how to tread that thin line!

The decline of the Kalighat School of painting started with an influx of cheap oleographs from Bombay and Germany which blatantly plagiarized the Kalighat style to flood the peddle homogenized machine-made prints. This ruthlessly suppressed the Kalighat patuas who just couldn’t keep up with the changing times.

The works Kalighat patuas remained ossified and forgotten for a long time until artists like Jamini Roy decided to bring about an artistic renaissance celebrating these once forgotten art schools. As days go by, the patachitra and the patua must be immortalized and revisited by any true connoisseur of art as it is literally art from the bottom - up!