6. Paintings of Odisha Temples

Orissa (Odisha), the land of the artistic Utkalas, occupies a proud place in India in respect of her ancient monuments, many of which are still in an almost perfect stage of preservation. But, the traditional painting in Orissa has not yet been highly placed. From the anciet time, painting in Orissa was prevalent and it had its own peculiarity with the regional paintings. From the ancient Puranas, Kavyas, work of art, inscriptions and the Madalapanji of Lord Jagannatha temple, we find the vivid evidences of it. Pantings cannot be as durable as sculpture. So there is no clear proof of the ancient paintings from the pre-historic period except rock paintings of Sundargarh, Kalahandi and Sambalpur districts. a. Types of Paintings: Materialwise the traditional paintings of Orissa can be divided into four main branches i.e.1.Murals (paintings on wall), 2.Pattacitra (paintings on cloth), 3. Pothicitra (paintings and engravings on palm leaf) and 4.Paper paintings. This chronology is overlapping and not linear because all these four branches have been executed simultaneously. Professionwise, it is the art of the citrakaras, the traditional painters and novices as well as free lancers. The Murals and Patta paintings are the work of the citrakaras, whereas the palmleaf and paper are ascribed to the other group. Consdering the formats, the Orissan (Odisha) paintings are vertically divided into two groups, the Murals and miniatures comprising palmleaf patta and paper paintings. b. Subject Matters of Paintings: Every composition of the Odisha painting is divided into two major parts such as the subject matter of the painting and decorative pattern. Generally, the subject matters belong to representative categories. Again the representative class is sub-divided into natural and conventional form. The flora and fauna have been copied from nature as well as the traditional symbolic representations. The human figures were mostly drawn from memory and this explains the artistic 72

pattern of the faces with long eyes, straight noses and rounded chains. Each artist followed the traditional formula for the ground drawing and almost all the figures are drawn in profile. The paintings generally represent both the social story of malu-baidya (patient and doctor), kela-keluni, Nagarjuna; bull-fighting and mythological story of Mahisamardini, stories of gods and goddesses, Ananta Sayee Visnu, Krsnalila and Ramalila scenes. The decorative parts are purely ornamental patterns. These types of regular and irregular decorative patterns consist of various scrolls, birds, creepers, tassels and geometrical designs. Among other designs inspired by vegetable life, but combined with other elements, may be mentioned the well-known flower and vase motif like patta kumbha. It is the natural aesthetic pattern of Orissa. Inspite of different divisions and sub-divisions the lotus motif has also been used with greater skill and variety. Of the entire ornamental pattern that has been closely borrowed from vegetables, the lotus motif is most common and prominent in Indian art. The depiction of the nagabandha of two or four serpents was also an artistic pattern of Orissan decoration. In Odisha, temples are generally decorated with paintings in the innerside of jagamohana, natamandapa and bhogamandapa respectively. The paintings in temples are found from the inner sidewalls, pillars, ceilings, doorframes etc. The interiors of the temples in the Puri Jagannatha temple complex are the best example to assess the decoration of the style. On the other hand, it is really amazing to see so much of vitality and fressness that still remains in the tradition of mural paitings. The Jagannatha temple of Dharakota painted in the early twentith century is the glaring sample, which upholds the glory of Orissan (Odisha) painting tradition. c. Mural Painting: The Mural painting of Odisha has been brought to the light at Sitabhinji in the district of Keonjhar, in the 2nd half of the 20th century. It is well-known that a glorious and brilliant horizon has been presented to the cultural History of Orissa by the temple of supreme Lord Jagannatha at Puri. There are some paintings on relief sculptures and walls inside the Jagannatha temple complex. From these paintings we know the garments, social customs and ornaments prevailing at that time. Apart from the wall paintings the citrakaras of Puri paint the anasarapatis, yatripatis, rathas, candan mandapa, Jagati and capa of Lord Jagannatha. 73

The technique and process of wall paintings in the temple of Jagannatha of Puri were in different style. Their compositon, colours and finishing were influenced by the later South Indian School to a certain extent. 114 Oriya artists began with the same faith in the realness of the paintings that was shared by the South Indian painters. The traditional painters were appointed by the court of Narasimha Deva with a view to decorating the Jagannatha temple for the first time. Again it is found from the Madalapanji that Pitamber Pattanaik also painted the jagamohana of Maha Laksmi temple and Gundicha temple of Puri. This painting belonged to the period of Gajapati Kapilendra Deva. 115 The oldest Indian painting has two major branches such as vidhacitra and avidha citra. The vidha citra is based on the studies of life in general and the avidha citra is revealed in a special effort to produce faithful portraits. There are several instances of portrait paintings in Oriya literature. The "Candra Kala Kavya"by Kavi Surya Baladeva of the 18th century has an interesting stanza on portrait work. Apart from the literary evidence on the practice of Mural painting in Orissa, a startling discovery has been made in much later temples of southern parts of Orissa. The temples of Orissa are the shining instances of the Orissan sculpture and architecture. The painting in Orissa is as old as sculpture and architecture. The traditional painting, which was prevalent upto this period, had been influnced by the Rajput technique and South Indian technique. The Odisha School of painting very closely follows the great traditions of sculpture of Puri, Bhubaneswar and Konarka. Sri Jagannatha temple at Puri is the centre of the theosophical activities in Odisha. Like the Kalighat painting of Bengal and Brhedesvara painting of Tanjavar, the traditional 'Patta painting' of the Jagannatha temple is connected with the holy place. The painters are engaged on hereditary basis by the temple and are known as sevakas of Sri Jagannatha. Pilgrims from the whole of India come to Puri. By their regional art consciousness, a relation is established with the artists of Puri. The kings of Odisha while embarking on a conquest, conquered many kingdoms as the symbol of their victory. Hece there is the influence of Rajastani paintings, Jain manuscript paintings, Kalighat paintings and South Indian paintings on traditional paintings of Orissa. Odisha paintings has not only absorbed that influence, but has digested them. However there is marked peculiarity in Patta paintings in Orissa. We can divide the traditional painting into three main schools. The first school is found in Puri and its adjacent areas like Raghurajpur, Vira Pratapapur, Itamati and 74

others. The second school is known as Daksni and it prevails in the district of Ganjam, Digapahandi, Cikiti, Paralakhemundi, Dharakote, Ghumusara etc. are the areas of this style. The third school prevails in the Sonepur, Balangir, Sambalpur areas and is known as Campamala School. The traditional paintings in Orissa have been patronized by the kings and the Zamindars of the state. The kings in Orissa have not only nurtured the sculpture by establishing the temples and gods and goddesses in them but also have encouraged the artists by employing them in decorating the temples and courts. . Usually, the subject matters of these traditional paintings are based on the stories of gods and goddesses of the Puranas. This is the greatest pride of the traditional Indian paintings. Orissan (Odisha) Patta-painting is the visual expression of a cultural movement with roots in a great spiritual upsurge. Orissan patta-painting is not a sudden development unrelated to the life of Utkala, but is the culmination of a spiritual, social and literary revival of the 'Sri Jagannatha Cult'. In order to enrich the theme of the Purana stories, animals, birds, flowers, leaves, trees, creepers are introduced in the paintings. However, these are of minor importance. Elephant, horse, deer, parrot, peacock, lion, tiger, Kadamba tree, Asoka tree, mango leaves, green coconuts possess major importance in the Odisha paintings. At times the human qualities are expressed in these animals, birds, trees and creepers. Sometimes the pictures of yaksas, other gods and goddesses are painted following the limbs of birds and animals. For example, the paintings of Narasimha, gajanana hayagriha and naga kanya are important. Among these the combination of the head of an elephant with a human body is imagined to be gajanana, of the head of a lion with a human body is Narasimha, of the head of the horse with the human body is known as hayagriha and of the human body with a serpent is described as nagakanya. Besides, the pictures of Durga Madhava, Kandarpa ratha, Kamakunjar, Kama kusuma and Navagunjara have also been painted. In the painting of Navagunjara, limbs of parrot, cock, bull, lion, horse, tiger, peacock, serpent and man have been blended to make a beautiful form. This description is also found in the Oriya Mahabharata of foremost poet Sarala Das, during the period of Gajapati rule in Orissa. A painting of Navagunjara is depicted in the ceiling of the jagamohana of the Gundica temple at Puri and it has been depicted that Lord Krsna appeared before Arjuna in the shape of Navagunjara. 75

Among other designs inspired by vegitable life, but combined with other elements, may be mentioned the well-known flower and vase motif like patta kumbha. It is the national aesthetic pattern of Orissa. This motif is generally depicted on the base of the doorjamb of the vimana and the jagamohana. Of the entire ornamental patterns that have been closely borrowed from vegetables, the lotus motif is most common and prominent in Orissa. d. Paintings and Sculptures in Relation: In the pictorial tradition, painting is closely related to sculpture. In the Orissan Silpa tradition, paintings were termed lekha, as in Silpaprakasa, which when referring to paintings goes on to say that "it is done on stone and on walls inside doorways (interior walls)" and that the beautiful art of painting (lekhavidya) has a variety of flavours. In India, as also in Odisha, sculptures are painted. The stone carvings on the ceiling of the jagamohana of Muktesvara temple at Bhubaneswar seem to have been painted as these reveal the traces of pigments. Traces of red pigments are also noticed on the stone sculpture of Ganesa in the southern niche of the Lingaraja temple, Bhubaneswar. It is customary to paint all the sculptures, which are kept in the shrines for worship because sculptures without painting are considered unsuitably for worship. The opening of the eyeballs or paintings of the eyeballs, which is known as Netrotsava is the highlight of the painting ritual. This is an annual event in temples, mathas and even in house shrines. It is an important ritual in the Jagannatha temple at Puri and elsewhere. This is a clear indication that painting supplements a sculpture and makes its presentation more effective and expressive. The sculptural motif of Navagunjara is found in the Siva temple at Chhanameri in Ganjam district and western side outer enclosure of the Jagannatha temple of Puri. The Navagunjara in the Mural painting at Dharakote Jagannatha temple with possible elaborations in the thematic renderings is of course rare in sculptural art. We have also to take into account of the pictorial traditions of composite figures of Navagunjara, Kandarpa-ratha, Kama Kunjara of Deccani, Mughal and Rajsthani paintings, which have influenced the painters and sculptures in Orissa. There are two samples of motifs, which have been painted and sculptured almost alike. This one is a sculpture of Laksmi-Narasimha of the 76

17th/18th century inserted in to the wall of small temple at Janla in Puri district. The most remarkable feature of this sculpture is the concept to identify Narasimha with Jagannatha. The other is the relief panel on Ravana chatravanga inserted in the dolavedi in Puri town. The modern temple art is the best example of traditional and modern motifs. While the lion which the goddess Durga rides represent the crude version of British lions, the one standing solitary as vahana figure outside the temple is a replica of Orissan sculpture. The painted cement works, which emerge from the renovated schemes of old temples seem to engulf and eventually replace the age old Odisha pictorial tradition. This has happened at Puri, Jajpur, Baripada, Berhampur and Bhubaneswar. e. Paintings and Architecture in Relation: The architectural structures and features, which appear in Orissan painting, offer a very interesting study. These figures, which are painted to substantiate the thematic narration and the background motifs and decorations, have been mostly derived from Odisha classical temple architecture as well as from vernacular traditions. Except in Silpasastras, architecture as a separate them has not been depicted but certain properties of the architectural tradition appear very often in paintings. These are the mandapa (porch) and the temples. Besides, architectural features like bedha (decorative frames), torana or arch and pillars also appear in the Odisha paintings. The graphical representation of the pilgrim town of Puri in Mural, Patta as well as in palmleaf is a very popular theme related to architecture. It is known from the above discussion that the temples of Orissa are finely designed with seprate style of architecture and excellently decorated with sculptures and its traditional paintings. 77