Pattachitra Painting

Pattachitra, meaning 'cloth picture', developed alongside the Jagannath temple tradition in Puri, where artists created illustrated palm-leaf manuscripts and cloth scrolls depicting mythology — particularly the stories of Jagannath, Krishna and the Ramayana — passed down through generations of artist families in villages such as Raghurajpur.

A canvas is prepared by layering cotton cloth with tamarind-seed paste and chalk powder, burnished smooth by hand, then painted with natural pigments using fine brushes traditionally made from animal hair.