Meru Jatra festival and Pattachitra paintings

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  Meru Jatra festival and Pattachitra paintings

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News - 

• Odisha’s Ganjam district administration banned the Meru Jatra festival and congregations related to it at temples on the occasion of Mahavishub Sankranti (April 13, 2020), due to COVID-19.
• Earlier, the administrations had also banned the famous Chaitra Jatra festival at Tara Tarini hill shrine.
• COVID-19 has also affected the sale of Pattachitra paintings.

Details - 

• Meru Jatra marks the end of the 21-daylong festival of penance named ‘Danda Nata’ (celebrated in the month of Chaitra).
• Danda as the name implies, is selfinflicted pain, which the danduas (people who participate in the festival) undergo to pay their obeisance to the lord Kali. 
• It is also a form of worshipping the lord Shiva and his consort Parvati.
• The origin of the festival is generally traced to 8th and 9th AD after the decadence of Buddhism in Odisha.
• On the occasion of Mahavishub Sankranti (start of the Odia New Year) thousands of devotees used to gather at the Tara Tarini hill shrine and other temples.
• Tara Tarini hill shrine, located at a hilltop on banks of the Rushikulya river, is a major centre of Shakti worship in Odisha.
• The twin goddesses Tara and Tarini represent one Shakti and are the main deity of Ganjam district

Pattachitra style of painting - 

• It is one of the oldest and most popular art forms of Odisha.
• The name Pattachitra has evolved from the Sanskrit words Patta, meaning canvas, and Chitra, meaning picture. 
• Pattachitra is done on canvas and is manifested by rich colourful application, creative motifs and designs, and portrayal of simple themes, mostly mythological in depiction.
• The Pattachitra, when painted on cloth, follows a traditional process of preparation of the canvas. First, the base is prepared by coating the cloth with the soft, white, stone powder of chalk and glue made from tamarind seeds.
• It is a tradition to complete the borders of the painting first. The painter then starts making a rough sketch directly with the brush using light red and yellow.
• The colours used are normally white, red, yellow, and black.
• Some of the popular themes represented through this art form are 

1. Thia Badhia - depiction of the temple of Jagannath;
2. Krishna Lila - enactment of Jagannath as Lord Krishna displaying his powers as a child; 
3. Dasabatara Patti - the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu; 
4. Panchamukhi - depiction of Lord Ganesh as a fiveheaded deity.

• When the painting is completed it is held over a charcoal fire and lacquer is applied to the surface. This makes the painting water resistant and durable, besides giving it a shining finish.

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