Manasa Mangala (The Story of the Snake Goddess Manasa)

The story of how the Hindu snake goddess Manasa had to win the worship of the merchant Chand Sadagar in order to attain divinity is commonly recounted in West Bengal. In Abdul Chitrakar's (India b.1985) Manasa Mangala (The Story of the Snake Goddess Manasa), Manasa is depicted on a lotus throne, under the arching body of a multi-headed snake. Sadagar refused her devotion, even when Manasa killed Sadagar’s seven sons one by one, stripping him of his wealth. After much suffering, Behulah, the wife of the seventh son, through her bravery and devotion, convinced Manasa to return her husband to her and, in return, Sadagar reluctantly agreed to worship her, though he is always depicted turning away from her. In return, Manasa restored his fortunes and his remaining six sons.

Patachitra, or ‘pats’, are scroll paintings from West Bengal, intimately bound up with itinerant storytelling and songs. Historically, patachitra were cloth scrolls on which mythological or epic stories were painted as a sequence of frames. The artists (patua) would travel from village to village, slowly unrolling the scrolls and singing the stories. Patachitras have been compared to cinema frames or animation, and are said to be one of the oldest forms of audiovisual communication.

Exhibited in 'The 8th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art' (APT8) | 21 Nov 2015 – 10 Apr 2016