Patua Paintings

The Patua is a community found in West Bengal. Some Patuas are Hindus, while others are Muslims and Buddhists. The paintings tradition of Patuas was started as a village tradition as painters of scrolls or pats telling the popular mangal stories of the gods and goddesses.

The Patua painters or scroll painters have gone from village to village with their scrolls or pat singing stories in return for money or food. These pats or scrolls are made of sheets of paper of equal or different sizes which are sown together and painted with ordinary poster paints.