February’s second Exhibit of the Week at IGRMS
Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): ‘Bhagwati Durga,’ a scroll painting (Patachitra) of Midnapore (West Bengal) is the second ‘Exhibit of the Week’ of the month at its official sites and social media pages of Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS), Bhopal.
The exhibition began on Monday. The museum collected the scroll painting from Chitrakar community of West Midnapore in 2015. The length and breadth of the exhibit are 11ft and 22 inch.
About the exhibit, director of the museum Praveen Kumar Mishra said that Chitrakars were traditional folk painters of West Bengal. They are also well known as patuas who paint and recite their own scrolls patachitra. They wander from village to village carrying scrolls and unrolling the scroll bit by bit unfolding the story by singing songs.
Patua use handmade paper, cloth, gum and colours which they prepared from different herbs. On both the ends of the painting two bamboo strips are attached which help to wind up the Pat, he added.
He further said that most of the stories were taken from epics, religious texts, and folklores. The scroll painting depicting the story of Bhagawati Durga is taken from Chandi Mangal.
Dhanpati was a wealthy merchant and a devotee of Lord Shiva. Attracted with the beauty of his sister-in-law Khullana, he marries her. Once he set forth on a journey to Singhal leaving his wife Khullana at home in the care of his first wife Lahana. Before journey he made a mistake by opposing Chandi worship being done by Khullana.
As a result during his journey, he met with misfortune and was imprisoned by the king of Singhal. Meanwhile his wife gave birth to a son Shrimanta. When Shrimanta grew up, he also went to Singhal and was imprisoned by the king. By the grace of Chandi he was free and rescued his father from the prison. He married Sushila, princess of Singhal. From then Dhanpati started worshipping Chandi (Durga), Mishra said.
