Chakshudana pata

Jadupatuas produced Chakshudana paintings, for the family members of the recently deceased. These paintings would depict a deceased Santhal without eyeballs, thus signifying that their spirit would wander around blind in the afterlife unless the painter paints the eyeballs for a payment.

On hearing of a death in the Santhal community, the painter would approach the mourning family with an incomplete painting depicting a man or a woman, young or old according to the age and sex of the deceased. The artist would then offer to restore the sight of the dead in exchange for objects shown in the painting. This act of bestowing sight made the patua painter rise to the position of a magic painter.

Dimension: 5X3.5 Inches
Medium: Natural Pigment on Paper