The images presented in this book take us into the heart of the rich folk tradition of India. Of that heritage, the display of paintings accompanied by comments recited or sung has been a part of since very early times, as attested by references and legends in Sanskrit sources, including the Harsacarita, a 7th century work by Banabhatta. Known as patacitras or patas in short, these illustrated narratives on rectangular fabric or paper as well as on scrolls are a type of performed art that reaches out to audiences, mostly rural, conveying the artists' responses to legends and social themes of common knowledge across a wide range of audiences from varied social and cultural bases. A particularly powerful class of such paintings that come from the Bengali-speaking region of eastern India comprise the depiction of events from the Ramayana in the form of scrolls that are unrolled as the painter displays and explicates them. The vividly colourful images presented in this book occupy a special niche in the history of Indian art, remarkable because they are not only visual objects but narrative expositions of a text that has been part of vast numbers of the Indian people and often their source of moral guidance. Especially remarkable is that these patas by Bengali folk painters diverge so often from the magisterial Ramayanas of adikavi "First Poet" Valmiki, leave out important parts of it and import into the Rama saga episodes from local narrative caches.

Highlights the state's rich cultural and natural landscapes and attractions with fifty-seven photographs in a week-at-a-glance format.

The folk arts of West Bengal have always been a treasure-trove of folk art in diverse forms, which found expression in almost every conceivable item of village life in earlier days. In this book, the author delves into the intricacies of the creative pattern of folk arts of Bengal, providing an overview of the vast array of art forms. The folk arts of West Bengal have always been a treasure-trove of folk art in diverse forms, which found expression in almost every conceivable item of village life in earlier days, starting from clay-built houses and corn-bins to folk painting,