NAYA (WEST MEDINIPORE): Swarna Chitrakar is a worried artist. The demonetisation move may have just poured water over her months of hard work that has gone in the drawings of ‘potchitro’ scrolls depicting Hindu mythology in her Muslim-majority Naya village.
In fact, during the Kolkata Film Festival, inaugurated on Friday, the traditional drawing drawn by the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee was handed to Bollywood stars by the Bengali filmstars.
“Visitors to the Potmaya festival have not got any cash due to demonetisation. We can’t sell our priced art on credit,” Chitrakar said. The three-day festival is an annual opportunity for the Muslim Patua Chitrakars to showcase their art which has international takers as well.
Naya, a Muslim-dominated village in West Medinipur district is unique to Bengal’s divided landscape. Home to around 90 Muslim families, the village boasts of an ancient tradition of painting scrolls depicting Hindu mythology including Ramayana, Mahabharat and Manasa Mangal.
“The Muslim singers-cum-painters slowly open the scrolls while singing the folklore which are songs praising the Hindu gods,” said Amitava Bhattacharya of Banglanatak.com, which organises the fest.
“The Muslim Patuas of Naya, who have common surname of Chitrakar, earlier used to beg in villages while singing the Hindu mythological songs while gradually unfolding their handmade potchitro. These songs have been based on oral knowledge passed on by generations,” he added.
Hand-painted, while using colours made from vegetables, ‘pots’ (scrolls) can cost as high as Rs 20,000. Each scroll or ‘pot’ depicts a mythological story of Krishna, Shiva, snake-god Manasa and Muslim fakirs.
Commenced in 2010, earnings from the Potmaya festival have enabled many patuas to build pucca houses, where their artworks have better storage. Even the Khadi Development Board has built a museum for the preservation of this ancient art form.
The sudden scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes has hit their business hard. “Many are unable to do even open their sales while there are some who sell their artworks at as less as Rs 200 per day. Some of these 'potochitro' was started at Rs 2,000 last year,” said Rabiya Chitrakar, standing outside the painted walls of her house. Each wall of the village is painted by the artists themselves.
Nevertheless, the village still attracts enthusiastic musicians. “Potchitro is like an ancient filmography, where people can sing and depict mythological scenes through art,” said Ingeborg Poffet, a vocalist from Switzerland who has come to perform her Swiss folk music with saxophone and clarinet player Jopo.