Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T07:40:02.399Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Unrolling a Narrative Scroll: Artistic Practice and Identity in Late-Nineteenth-Century Bengal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2010

Pika Ghosh
Get access

Extract

Two and a half thousand years ago, long before Lakshman Sena ruled Bengal, there was a monster who came out of its cave every night and ate people. The people could not kill him because they feared him so much. They finally put a plan together and made a mirror. When the monster came out that night and saw his reflection, he was so startled to see another creature as big and powerful as himself that he lashed out at the mirror, shattering the glass. But, each broken piece reflected himself back at him. As he turned, these creatures seemed to surround him. He felt they had multiplied. So in his fear and rage, he hit his head and wept himself to death. The people came back the next morning and saw the splintered glass and the dead monster. Now, how to tell all the other villages the news that they could live without fear? So, the same man who had come up with the scheme to kill the monster was asked to devise a second plan. A big leaf was used to paint the picture of the monster. This image was circulated from village to village, and the man was packed off to tell the story. Wherever he told the tale, they gave him rice and, of course, food to eat. Soon it transformed his livelihood. He no longer cultivated land. Then they wanted new stories, so he went to the Ramayana and Mahabharata and added songs to storytelling and pictures on cloth.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 62 , Issue 3 , August 2003 , pp. 835 - 871
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

List of References

Anderson, Benedict. 1991. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. 1983. Reprint, London and New York: Verso.Google Scholar
Archer, Mildred. 1977. Indian Popular Painting in the India Office Library. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Archer, W. G. 1962. Kalighat Drawings. Bombay: Marg Publications.Google Scholar
Archer, W. G.. 1971. Kalighat Paintings. London: Victoria and Albert Museum.Google Scholar
Banerjee, Asit. K., ed. 1983. The Ramayana in Eastern India. Calcutta: Prajna.Google Scholar
Banerjee, Sumanta. 1989. The Parlour and the Streets: Elite and Popular Culture in Nineteenth Century Calcutta. Calcutta: Seagull.Google Scholar
Banerji, Samik. 1990. “The Early Years of Calcutta Cinema.” In Calcutta: The Living City, edited by Chaudhuri, Sukanta. Calcutta: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Beach, Milo. C. 1988. “The Mughal Artist.” In Making Things in South Asia: The Role of Artist and Craftsman, edited by Meister, Michael W.. Philadelphia: Department of South Asia Regional Studies, University of Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Bhattacharjee, Binoy. 1973. “The Patuas: A Study on Islamization.” In The Patas and Patuas of Bengal, edited by Sengupta, Sankar. Calcutta: Indian Publications.Google Scholar
Bhattacharjee, Binoy. 1980. Cultural Oscillation: A Study on Patua Culture. Calcutta: Naya Prokash.Google Scholar
Bhattacharya, Asutosh, ed. 1970. Krittibasi Ramayana (Krittibas's Ramayana). Calcutta: Akhil Bharat Janashiksha Prachar Samiti.Google Scholar
Bhattacharya, Asutosh. 1980. “Oral Tradition of the Ramayana in Bengal.” In The Ramayana Tradition in Asia, edited by Raghavan, V.. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi.Google Scholar
Bhattacharya, Bholanath. 1973. “The Evolution of the Kalighat Style and the Occupational Mobility of the Patuas: A Sample Survey.” In The Patas and Patuas of Bengal, edited by Sengupta, Sankar. Calcutta: Indian Publications.Google Scholar
Birdwood, G. C. M. [1880] 1986. The Arts of India. Reprint, Jersey [Channel Islands]: British Book Company.Google Scholar
Blackburn, Stuart. H., and Ramanujan, A. K., eds. 1986. Another Harmony: New Essays on the Folklore of India. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blackburn, Stuart. H., Claus, Peter J., Flueckiger, Joyce B., and Wadley, Susan S., eds. 1989. Oral Epics in India. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Blurton, T. Richard. 1989. “Continuity and Change in the Tradition of Bengali Pata-Painting.” In Shastric Traditions in Indian Arts, edited by Anna Libéra Dallapiccola in collaboration with Christine Walter-Mendy and Stephanie Zingel-Avé Lallemant. Vol. 1. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden.Google Scholar
Cassidy, Brendan. 1993. “Introduction: Iconography, Texts, and Audiences.” In Iconography at the Crossroads: Papers from the Colloqium sponsored by the Index of Christian Art, Princeton University. Princeton: Index of Christian Art, Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University.Google Scholar
Chaliha, Jaya, and Gupta, Bunny. 1990a. “Chitpur.” In The Past. Vol. 1 of Calcutta, the Living City, edited by Chaudhuri, Sukanta. Calcutta: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Chaliha, Jaya, and Gupta, Bunny. 1990b. “Durga Puja in Calcutta.” In The Present and the Future. Vol. 2 of Calcutta, the Living City, edited by Chaudhuri, Sukanta. Calcutta: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Clifford, James. 1988. The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Coburn, Thomas. B. 1991. Encountering the Goddess: A Translation of the Devī-māhātmya and a Study of Its Interpretation. Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Codell, Julie. F., and Macleod, Dianne Sachko, eds. 1998. Orientalism Transposed: The Impact of the Colonies on British Culture. Aldershot, Hants: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Cohn, Bernard. S. 1987. An Anthropologist among the Historians and Other Essays. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Coomaraswamy, Ananda. K. 1943. Why Exhibit Works of Art? London: Luzac. Reprinted as Christian and Oriental Philosophy of Art. New York: Dover Publications, 1956.Google Scholar
Das, J. P., and Williams, Joanna. 1987. “Raghunatha Prusti: An Oriya Artist.” Artibus Asiae 48(1–2):131–59.Google Scholar
Prabhat Kumar, Das. 1973. “Face to Face with Patuas.” In The Patas andPatuas of Bengal, edited by Sengupta, Sankar. Calcutta: Indian Publications.Google Scholar
Deb, Chitra. 1990. “The ‘Great Houses’ of Old Calcutta.” In The Past. Vol. 1 of Calcutta, the Living City, edited by Chaudhuri, Sukanta. Calcutta: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dirks, Nicholas. B., ed. 1992. Colonialism and Culture. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dutt, Gurusaday. 1939. Patua Sangit (Patua songs). Calcutta: Calcutta University.Google Scholar
Dutt, Gurusaday. 1990. Folk Arts and Crafts of Bengal: The Collected Papers. Calcutta: Seagull.Google Scholar
Joyce Burkhalter, Flueckiger, and Sears, Laurie J., eds. 1991. Boundaries of the Text: Epic Performances in South and Southeast Asia. Michigan Papers on South and Southeast Asia, no. 35. Ann Arbor: Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of Michigan.Google Scholar
Ghose, Ajit. 1926. “Old Bengal Paintings.” Rupam 27–28:98–104.Google Scholar
Ghosh, D. P. 1945. “An Illustrated Ramayana Manuscript of Tulsidas and Pats from Bengal.” Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Art 12:124–38.Google Scholar
Ghosh, J. C. 1948. Bengali Literature. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ghosh, Loknath. 1881. The Native Aristocracy and Gentry … of Bengal, Behar, Orissa, North-Western Provinces, Panjab, Rajputana, Central India, Central Provinces, Assam, Bombay, Haiderabad, Maisur, and Madras … Down to the Present Time. Part 2 of The Modern History of the Indian Chiefs, Rajas, Zamindars, etc. Calcutta: J. N. Ghose.Google Scholar
Ghosh, Pika. 2000a. “Kalighat Paintings from Nineteenth-Century Calcutta in the Maxwell Sommerville Collection.” Expedition 42(3):11–21.Google Scholar
Ghosh, Pika. 2000b. “Story of a Storyteller's Scroll.” RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 37:166–85.Google Scholar
Ghosha, Manmathanatha. 1920. Memoirs of Kali Prossunno Singh. Calcutta: Barendra Library.Google Scholar
Goswamy, B. N. 1997. Nainsukh ofGuler: A Great Indian Painter from a Small Hill-State. Zurich: Museum Rietberg.Google Scholar
Guha, Ranajit, ed. 1982. Subaltern Studies: Writings on South Asian History and Society. Delhi and New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Guha-Thakurta, Tapati. 1992. The Making of a New “Indian” Art. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Horne, Lee. 1995. “Making Metal in West Bengal.” In Cooking for the Gods: The Art of Home Ritual in Bengal, edited by Meister, Michael W. and Ghosh, Pika. Newark, N.J.: Newark Museum; Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Jain, Jyotindra. 1997. Ganga Devi: Tradition and Expression in Mithila Painting. Middletown, N.J.: Grantha in association with Mapin Publishing and the Mithila Museum.Google Scholar
Jain, Jyotindra. 1998. Other Masters: Five Contemporary Folk and Tribal Artists of India. New Delhi: Crafts Museum and Handicrafts and Handlooms Exports Corporation of India.Google Scholar
Jain, Jyotindra. 1999. Kalighat Painting: Images from a Changing World. Ahmedabad: Mapin Publishing.Google Scholar
Knizkova, Hana. 1975. The Drawings of the Kalighat Style: Secular Themes. Prague: National Museum.Google Scholar
Kramrisch, Stella. 1968. Unknown India: Art fromTribe andVillage. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art.Google Scholar
Lamb, Ramdas. 1994. “Personalizing the Ramayan: Ramnamis and Their Use of the Ramcaritmanas.” In Many Ramayanas: The Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia, edited by Richman, Paula. Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Macaulay, Lord Thomas Babington. 1967. “Minute of 2 February 1835 on Indian Education.” In Macaulay, Prose and Poetry, selected by Yourtg, G. M.. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Mazumdar, Shudha, trans. 1974. [Krittibas's] Ramayana. Bombay: Orient Longman.Google Scholar
Mccutchion, David. 1989. “Recent Developments in Patua Style and Presentation.” In Patua Art: Development of Scroll Paintings of Bengal: Commemorating the Bicentenary of the French Revolution. Calcutta: Alliance Française of Calcutta and Crafts Council of West Bengal.Google Scholar
Mills, Margaret. A. 1991. Rhetorics and Politics in Afghan Traditional Storytelling. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitra, Asok. 1953. Castes and Tribes of West Bengal. Calcutta: Government of West Bengal Press.Google Scholar
Mitter, Partha. 1977. Much Maligned Monsters: A History of European Reactions to Indian Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mukharji, Trailokyanath. 1888. Art-Manufactures of India: Specially Prepared for the Glasgow International Exhibition, 1888. Calcutta: Superintendent of Government Printing, India.Google Scholar
Ong, Walter J. 1982. Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word. London and New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ostor, Akos. 1980. The Play of the Gods: Locality, Ideology, Structure, and Time in the Festivals of a Bengali Town. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Raha, Kironmoy. 1978. Bengali Theatre. New Delhi: India Book Trust.Google Scholar
Raheja, Gloria Goodwin, and Gold, Ann Grodzins. 1994. Listen to the Heron's Words: Reimagining Gender and Kinship in North India. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rao, Velcheru Narayana. 1994. “A Ramayana of Their Own: Women's Oral Tradition in Telegu.” In Many Ramayanas. The Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia, edited by Richman, Paula. Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rossi, Barbara. 1998. From the Ocean of Painting: India's Popular Paintings, 1589 to the Present. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Samvad Prabhakar. 1852. 15 October. Calcutta.Google Scholar
Sen, Dinesh Chandra. 1911. The History of the Bengali Language and Literature. Calcutta: Calcutta University Press.Google Scholar
Sen, Dinesh Chandra. 1920. The Bengali Ramayanas: Being Lectures Delivered to the Calcutta University in 1916, as Ramtanu Lahiri Research Fellow in the History of Bengali Language and Literature. Calcutta: Calcutta University.Google Scholar
Sengupta, Sankar. 1973. “The Patas of Bengal in General and Secular Patas in Particular: A Study of Classification and Dating.” In The Patas and Patuas of Bengal. Calcutta: Indian Publications.Google Scholar
Sharma, Sharananda. [1883] 1981. “Durgotsab.” Reprinted in Kalikata Purasree, 26 September.Google Scholar
Singer, Milton. 1991. Semiotics of Cities, Selves, and Cultures: Explorations in Semiotic Anthropology. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singh, Kavita. 1998. “To Show, To See, To Tell, To Know: Patuas, Bhopas, and Their Audiences.” In Picture Showmen: Insights into the Narrative Tradition in Indian Art, edited by Jain, Jyotindra. Mumbai: Marg Publications.Google Scholar
Smith, J. D. 1991. The Epic of Pabuji: A Study, Transcription, and Translation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, W. L. 1994. Ramayana Traditions in Eastern India. 2d ed.Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers.Google Scholar
Solvyns, Balthazar. 1799. A Collection of Two Hundred and Fifty Coloured Etchings Descriptive of the Manners, Customs, and Dresses of the Hindoos. Calcutta: [Balthazar Solvyns].Google Scholar
Williams, Joanna. 1994. “Jatayu the Valiant Vulture: Vernacular Art from Eastern India.” In The Legend of Rama: Artistic Visions; edited by Dehejia, Vidya. Bombay: Marg Publications.Google Scholar
Williams, Joanna. 1996. The Two-Headed Deer: Illustrations of the Ramayana in Orissa. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar