Cheriyal Scroll
Paintings:
Languishing Handcraft of Telangana
Vanam Jwala
Narasimha Rao
(Formerly Senior
manager
Handicrafts Development Corporation)
Hans India
(25-05-2020)
With barely few
artists, numbering 18 belonging to six families, now practicing the craft of
painting on cloth, traditionally known as ‘Scroll paintings of Cheriyal’,
the age-old art of telling a story literally and figuratively, in typical folk
style is almost a languishing handicraft of Telangana. The full credit for
preserving the craft should go to Dhanalakota Vaikuntam Nakash, his two sons
Rakesh and Vinaykumar and his three cousins Nageshwar, Venkatramana and Pavan
Kumar.
These few
surviving descendants of folk artists, tirelessly were engaged in the making of
a number of scroll paintings at Cheriyal irrespective of market or no market. They,
besides painting scrolls in powder colours on handloom cloth also make wooden
figures using “Puniki Wood” which is light in weight and also used for making
Kondapalli, Nirmal and Etikoppaka toys. The traditional Scroll Paintings are
used as visual aids for the story telling traditions.
Cheriyal is a
village near Jangaon, a little away from Hyderabad-Warangal highway, in
Telangana, where the art of painting on cloth is kept alive in its true and
traditional form by few families. Unlike several traditional handicrafts of Telangana,
or for that matter of India, this art form is not yet adulterated either in its
designs or colour schemes and combinations despite their shifting from cheriyal.
Rajasthan has a
rich tradition of folk paintings. Part of this heritage is the “Phada” a large
painting on cloth, which commemorates the deeds of a hero from Rajasthan’s colourful
past. The smaller version of this type is known as “Phadakye”. The stories of
Phadas or Phadakye are chanted by the members of the “Bhopa” caste and are
painted by members of the “Chippa” Caste called Joshis in Rajasthan.
The scroll
paintings of Cheriyal were used by the village bards describing verses from the
epics and other Puranas. Describing them as one of the best examples of audio
visual aids, it is said that scrolls running into several metres were unrolled
before a rapt audience under the banyan tree in the temple compound or even in
the village square while the bard narrated, taking them into the pages of the
story as the scroll unfolded its images to them.
The scroll
paintings depict both religious and secular themes and were used in the past to
educate and entertain people. Telangana Scrolls narrate the origin of a
particular caste and eulogise the daring exploits of their legendary hero.
Traditional
painting has always had something to do with religion. The great tradition of
mythology and epics were conveyed in visual form through traditional painting.
It was a collective expression, a pictorial conception of the total body of
myth, ritual, magic and religion bequeathed by one generation to the next in a
given social structure.
The scroll
painters cater to the needs of story tellers who tour the village and country
side and entertain villagers showing visual images that are often set to music.
Their experience has been that, they have known washer men, toddy tappers and
weaves in Telangana commissioning Nakashis to paint their own favourite themes
and stories pertaining to their local and ethnic gods and goddesses.
Jadupata
Paintings of Bihar, Phad Paintings of Rajasthan, the illustrated scrolls of the
Garoda in Gujarat and Pata paintings of Orissa are some of the traditional
paintings of our country besides scroll paintings of Cheriyal. Kalamkari
paintings of Andhra Pradesh, the Tanjavore Paintings, Chitrakathi paintings of
Maharashtra, Nathdwara paintings of Rajasthan, Kalighat Paintings of West
Bengal, Gold Leaf paintings of Karnataka and Madras deserves to be mentioned.
There are many more like Madhubani Paintings of Bihar and Kangra style painting
of Himachal Pradesh.
The folk artists
of scroll paintings of Cheriyal belong to Nakashis-meaning one who makes
pictures-a community that might have migrated from Rajasthan about a couple of
hundred years ago. The scrolls are usually vertical and may sometimes be 40 to
50 feet long. The work begins with preparation of cloth. Cora cloth, which is
normally bought either in the nearby local market or from Warangal is used. The
cloth is treated with a paste of rice-starch, Tiruman Gum, white clay (Sudda)
and water. Lime is also used to soften it. After the treatment with the paste
of above mixture the cloth is dried in the sun.
The theme of the
painting is drawn on the dry cloth with Jaju powder solution. The background is
filled with red colour. The figure, their attire and ornaments are given
different colours. The frequently used colours are green, blue, yellow, maroon
etc. Black is used for the outline. Black dye is made by mixing soot from
kerosene lamp with groundnut oil. Hair from the goat’s tail is used to make
bristle of the brushes which are used to paint broad outlines and filling in
work. Normally the women, wives of the artist do the outlines and other minor
work. Though, earlier, colours were prepared from vegetable dyes, these days
cakes of mineral and chemical colours are mixed with gum from Tiruman tree. The
scrolls come alive with the vibrant figures that emerge.
The themes of the
scroll paintings are usually episodes from the Mahabharata and other folklores.
The oldest theme is the Markandeya Puranam which is 500 years old. Others are
Madelu Puranam, Arjun Tapas, Arjun and Shiva with Parvati, Krishna, Radha and
Gopika, Virataparvam, Daksha Yagnam, Parvati Kalyanam etc.
The communities
of story tellers are categorised based on the themes they expose such as
Ramayana as Arthapodu, Mahabharata as Kakipodika, Goudapuranam as Gowdachetty,
Madelu Puranam as Chakalipata Naidu, Markandeya Puranam as Konapuli, Jambavanta
story as Dokkota and Daksha Yagnam as Guruppa.
The earliest
surviving scroll depicting the legend of Markandeya and Bhavanrishi dates back
to 1625 and carries the date November in the year 1644 as the date of transfer
of ownership. No other paintings of Indian scrolls have existed for so many
years. The Cheriyal scroll paintings are ideal wall hangings, some of them
several meters long.
The art of scroll
paintings was also practiced in Anupuram, a small village in Karimnagar
district though only on a very small scale. Unfortunately, the artists of this
area could not withstand the influence of calendar styles. There has been
little folk or tradition in their rendering.
The rural based
source of entertainment is sustained by the people’s belief that they attain
Punya and go to heaven after death by listening to the stories from the epics.
These programmes are arranged from January to April which is a lean reason for
farmers. However, the patronage is dwindling.
Unfortunately,
for various reasons including the desire to educate their children and also to
seek alternate mode of making adequate earnings, all the artists have shifted
from Cheriyal to Hyderabad’s Boduppal carrying the family tradition of making
the handicraft with them. Thus, the Cheriyal Scroll Paintings have now become
Hyderabad Boduppal Scroll Paintings! Nevertheless, the craft is saved from
totally languishing thanks to the family members’ enthusiasm to keep it alive.
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