Pattachitra is a sacred painting tradition from Odisha, deeply rooted in the rituals of the Jagannatha temple. This guide explores how Pattachitra is made—on palm leaves and cloth—highlighting each step, from natural pigments to spiritual symbolism. Whether you’re an art lover, spiritual seeker, or cultural enthusiast, this article offers a rich look into an ancient craft that blends devotion, discipline, and divine storytelling.
Odisha is a land of paintings. When the first humans walked this region, they painted expressive paleolithic art in the Guahandi hills of Kalahandi, made pictographic writings in Sambalpur, Sundergarh, and Ulapgarh. During the ancient period, sites like Udaygiri and Khandagiri emerged not only as religious centres, but houses of frescos that told the stories of kings, gods, and people.
In this long line of arts, Pattachitra painting from Odisha is a unique art tradition, emerging from the temple of Jagannath Puri, becoming a symbol of Odisha and India’s cultural heritage. The term itself combines two Sanskrit words:
Pata (cloth or palm leaf canvas)
Chitra (picture or painting)
Patachitra painting emerged from the Nava Kalevara tradition and Anasar pata of Jagannath temple Puri. During Nava Kalevara or making a new body for the Lord of Puri, a festival that happens once every 12 years, the Chitrakara cover the wood (bones) with a paste of resin, camphor, guggula (sacred flesh), and Sri Kapada (new cloth), which creates the new body of Jagannath.
During the Anasar period of 15 days, a unique festival when the three deities stay away from public view, it is the Pattachitra painting of the gods and goddess which is worshipped by people. Growing in the vicinity of the temple, Pattachitra has thus become intertwined with the rituals and is treated as an aspect of Jagannath’s divinity.
Pattachitra paintings are of two types- Tala Patra painting and Pattachitra done on cloth canvas. Let us take a look at what the difference is between the two by looking at the process behind them both.
Puri and Raghurajpur villages are the most popular centres of Pattachitra painting; however, the art is practiced in several parts of Odisha. In Puri, an area near the temple known as Chitrakara Sahi or the lane of artists, is famous for the ornate and colorful Pattachitra art painted by artists who have learned the techniques, iconography, and style from their ancestors.
Pattachitra done on palm leaf or Tala pattra as canvas is an ancient technique in the Indian art tradition. For making a Pattachitra, the process begins with selecting an unbroken and clean palm leaf:
The selected leaves are dried in the sun for 2-3 months, then soaked in water and treated with turmeric solution. This process gives the leaves a golden luster, and the anti-bacterial properties of turmeric keep insects and pests at bay.
The dried leaves are cut to the same size and strung together to form a manuscript or pothi, which can be folded together and stored and opened to see the complete narrative.
A sharp Leakhani (iron needle) is the key tool, used to engrave the leaf with the image or subject of the painting. This step requires precision in cutting without destroying the leaf and is done with much focus.
After the subject is made, black soot is rubbed on the leaf which seeps into the holes made by the needle. Extra soot is washed and black color filling the outline of the subject highlights the subject and brings it to full view.
The leaves are tied together with string and cotton cloth as a cover. Unlike the cloth Pattachitra, where each element unfolds at the same time, Tala Pattra paintings allow a slow reading on the story, with every episode opening one after the other, like a movie and the story unfolding slowly.
The process begins with the selection of cotton or Tussar cloth for the canvas. Cloth-based Pattachitra is perhaps the most widely recognized form of this art, especially in homes, galleries, and temples. Yet behind each vivid scroll is a labor of love — a process steeped in ritual purity, natural pigments, and ancestral technique.
Here’s how a traditional cloth Pattachitra is brought to life by the hands of Odisha’s Chitrakaras.
Two pieces of cotton or Tussar silk cloth are taken and pasted together using a paste of tamarind paste, prepared by soaking and grinding tamarind seeds. The gum, known as “Niryas Kalpa,” is used to prepare the “patti” on which the painting will be made.
A power of clay stone with tamarind paste is layered all over the patti and left to dry. Then, it is rubbed with a stone, wood, or seashell to give the cloth a smooth texture, giving the canvas a firm, leathery texture ideal for painting.
Naturally prepared colors are preferred by the artists, which give the paintings their vibrant appeal.
🔸Black is prepared with soot
🔸Green from leaves boiled and mixed with gum
🔸Red from ochre or hingula
🔸Yellow from yellow ochre or harital ground and mixed with water
🔸Blue from indigo or rajabarta stone.
These 5 colors form the Panchvarna make the primary color palette for Pattachitra paintings.
Locally available materials are used as tools in the process. Dried coconut shells used as bowls and mixing pallets, coarse brushes from keya roots, and finer brushes from hair of domesticated animals.
Borders of Pattachitra paintings are an eye-catching element, with colorful floral vines, motifs from architecture, and stylised patterns. Outlines of subjects are made with a pencil and then painted.
Once finished, final details are added, and the outline with black and white paint is done to highlight elements of the painting. Once complete, the painting is dried, rolled, and sometimes varnished with natural lacquer for preservation.
Every brushstroke in a cloth Pattachitra is a prayer — each color, a sacred offering to Jagannatha.
When the wooden forms of Jagannath, Balabhadra, and Subhadra are adorned with fresh paint, the artist turns to nature’s most sacred offerings for color. Every element, from the pigments to the motifs, is infused with symbolic meaning, drawn from the temple rituals of Puri and passed through generations of devout Chitrakaras. Let’s unfold the sacred symbolism hidden in every scroll:
The colors used in Pattachitra are not just aesthetic — they are ritual ingredients, each carrying a specific spiritual vibration:
🔸White from the purity of the shankha (conch)
🔸Saffron from fragrant kesara
🔸Yellow from the age-old haritala (yellow arsenic)
🔸Kaitha gum binds it all together.
The motifs and techniques of Pattachitra draw inspiration from these temple painting rituals. Each time the Chitrakara dips the brush, grinds the pigments, and draws a line, they call upon Jagannath to bless their art.
🔸Symbolize nature's bounty and divine beauty, especially lotus patterns, which reference purity in Hindu cosmology.
🔸Central to many paintings, the forms of Jagannatha, Balabhadra, and Subhadra are depicted not as idols, but as living deities — vibrant and emotionally expressive.
It is this unwavering devotion, that forms the true essence of a Pattachitra, its most sacred and secret ingredient.
🔸During Anasara, when the deities are hidden from public view, it is the painted scrolls — not just substitutes, but spiritual vessels — that are placed for darshan.
🔸During Nava Kalevara, Chitrakaras literally help create the new body of Jagannatha with their sacred preparation and painting of the wooden forms.
As you unfold the Pattachitra painting in your home, look closer at the lines, the colors and the motifs and you will find in them, the dedication of the artists, who with threads of love and strokes of skills, bind Jagannath in a scroll!
Pattachitra is both art and ritual, deeply rooted in the Jagannatha temple traditions of Odisha. Cloth-based and palm leaf (Tala Patra) paintings, each with unique techniques. Natural materials and pigments are used, such as tamarind seed paste, turmeric, soot, and sacred herbs. Chitrakaras (temple artists) treat the process as a spiritual service. Motifs reflect temple architecture, divine figures, and symbolic stories from Hindu tales. Tala Patra Pattachitras are like sacred manuscripts, revealing stories as the scroll is unfolded. Each scroll is a prayer in color and form, connecting devotees to Jagannatha’s divine essence.
Pattachitra is known for its sacred storytelling, detailed motifs, and natural pigments. It reflects Odisha’s spiritual traditions, especially those connected to the Jagannatha temple.
Artists use natural ingredients like tamarind paste, conch shell, soot, turmeric, harital, hingula, and handmade brushes from local plants and animal hair.
Cloth Pattachitra is painted on a tamarind-treated canvas, while palm leaf Pattachitra is engraved and read like a scroll, with each leaf revealing part of the story.
Traditional Pattachitra is made by Chitrakaras, temple painters who inherit this sacred art form through generations and practice it as a form of devotion.
It is used in temple rituals like Anasara and Nava Kalevara when painted images stand in for the deities. Each brushstroke is considered a sacred offering.
Yes — many devotees and art lovers bring Pattachitra into their homes as a way to honor tradition, beautify spaces, and connect with divine stories through art.
Pattachitra dates back over a thousand years, with links to the rituals of the Jagannatha temple in Puri and older manuscript traditions in Odisha.
Looking to bring a piece of sacred tradition into your home?Explore the living heritage of Pattachitra. Whether you're a spiritual seeker, collector, or simply curious, let each scroll guide you closer to the timeless stories of Jagannatha.
✨ Browse authentic Pattachitra artworks or learn more about Odisha’s sacred art traditions.
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