scroll painting

For centuries, storytellers carried painted scrolls across villages, unrolling epics as they sang. But Pattachitra, India’s ancient scroll art, began to fade with time. Today, artists and communities are bringing it back—stroke by stroke—reviving a 2,000-year-old legacy with new voices, new media, and the same timeless stories.

Odisha’s Raghurajpur village is a hub of Pattachitra, an indigenous art form, with at least one artist involved in the trade in every family. This art form dates back to the 12th century.