History of Patachitra

  Understanding art is not only about appreciating the finer details—the aesthetics, the technique, the colour, and the characteristics of the genre—perhaps it is much simpler. And in reality, it is! Every piece of art, great or otherwise, creates an impression on the human mind and only when an onlooker manages to engage in a tête-à-tête, the artwork unravels its countless layers of beauty. Shambhu Acharya and his scroll paintings (known as  potchitro ) achieve that effortlessly. We have long parted ways from our rustic ways and it is egocentric to presume that pastoral Bengal will not follow suit. For nine generations the Acharya family has depicted rural Bengal in a dream-like setting, where life was simpler but in no way easy. Potchitro , in older times, were also an integral part of entertainment.A patua would paint a sequence of events from mythology, religious scriptures, or folktales in a series of rectangular frames in a vertical format. The performer (sometimes the a...

Shambhu Acharya, the pioneer of 500 years old family tradition of scroll painting, painted "Gazir Pat" narrating the bravery and conquests of Shah Ismail Ghazi. Serving as a Muslim general to Sultan Rukunuddin Barbak Shah in the 15th century, he became popular among Muslims and Bedey community for his achievements. Sambhu Acharya portrayed the life of a legend and gave his work a tribute through this. Using handmade Pata and natural elements as color he painted Pir Ghazi sitting on a tiger, smoking from a hookah, defeating the opposition, and celebrating life. This scroll painting or Potochitro is his tribute to a man behind the myth and his attempt to capture a time lost in history.  

Shambhu Acharya was born in 1954. His father was patua Shudir Chandra Acharya and mother was Kamola Bala Acharya who herself was an Alpona painter. His family has been practicing patachitra or scroll painting, for more then 450 years or nine generation. The themes of their paintings include of Gazir pata, Sree Krishna, Muharram, Ramayana,Mahabharata,Manusha Mangal, Rass leela and also various other themes fro m  the local folk culture  the local folk culture.  Shambhu has the responsibility of carrying forward the family tradition of patachitra, His works have been exhibited at the Spitz Gallery London and are being collected by art lovers both overseas and in Bangladesh.

  Patachitra or scroll painting is an age-old form of popular art, which has been practiced in what is now Bangladesh since the 12th century. Pata painting depicted scenes from religion stories and cultural myths and themes from life in rural Bangladesh. Rular bards and story-tellers would use these scroll which had pictures depicting various events and themes of the stories they would tell. The earliest patuas (as the artists of scroll paintings are called) usually took the themes for their paintings from the Mahabharata, Ramayana, various legends, myths and religious stories and later expanded the range by including many popular and secular stories of the land. One of the most popular themes of the patachitra was the Gazi`s pat depicting the courageous deeds and conquests of Ismail Gazi, a Muslim general who served the Sultan Barbak in the 15th century. Patachitra, like many other popular folk arts of Bangal such as pottery, the weaving of the Muslin and jamdani, and jatra, was p...