Mantu Chitrakar is no doubt an accomplished scroll painter having just won the Award for Excellence from the World Crafts Council ...but from the first time I saw his work, his tiger chaukas have been one of his strengths. In earlier times, the scrolls were never sold as they would be used by the patua as he travelled from one village to the other, singing out the scroll song. Once the scroll got old and damaged, it was put to rest in a pool of water or a river, the songs and beautiful drawings erased forever, returned to the Original Maker, the Original Singer, the Spirit that animates the whole world. The patua artists however did make some images for sale - these were the square chaukas which were typically single image paintings of Gods and Goddesses. Mantu made the chauka format his own drawing the most powerful and beautiful tiger images. Always the tiger seems to be barely restrained by the material, so animated and dynamic as though it is going to jump right out ..enjoy these tiger chaukas by Mantu.
And don't forget, Bengal was once home to thousands of tigers - no wonder it is called the Royal Bengal Tiger ...
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