Kalighat Pat Painting — Kolkata West Bengal

Kalighat painting originated in 19th-century Kolkata as a populist art form sold to pilgrims visiting the Kalighat Kali temple. The Patua scroll painters (Chitrakar community) adapted their traditional narrative scroll tradition into bold, single-image paintings on hand-made paper, depicting Hindu deities and satirical scenes of colonial Bengali life. The distinctive style uses vigorous brushstrokes with flat-wash colour, strong outlines in black, and expressive simplified forms. Colours were originally natural — indigo, cadmium ochre, lampblack — now modernised. The 1860s–1880s Kalighat paintings were perhaps the first Indian folk art to satirise the Bengali babu (westernised middle class). The Victoria Memorial Kolkata has the largest collection. After nearly disappearing post-1920, the tradition has been revived through NGO support and craft board patronage. Naya village in Paschim Medinipur, descended from Kalighat scroll painters, is the contemporary centre. GI application under process.