Cheriyal scroll painting

Cheriyal scroll painting is a stylized version of Nakashi art, rich in the local motifs peculiar to the Telangana.

In India, each region and village developed its own scroll painting traditions, marked by characteristic content, form and technique depending on the local ethos, patronage and socio-economic conditions.

However, it should also be remembered that the sphere of activity, subject and artistic idiom of every scroll painting including that of Cheriyal is peculiar and confined to the village or habitation.

Commenting on the passage on the historic present in Panini's grammar, the Ashtadhyayi (c. 5th century BC), Patanjali takes as an example some picture showmen who are discussing the killing of Kamsa at the hands of Krishna...

In earlier times, the scrolls were a colourful backdrop to the equally interesting oral traditions of the common people, - the village hajjam-barber, toddy tapper, dhobhi-washerman, chamar-leatherworker, fisherman, weaver and farmer: (Madiga, Goud, Mudiraju, Malas, Padmashali, Chakala and Mangali[7]) the seven working and marginalised castes and communities of the village.

Dhanalokota Vaikuntam started learning work from his father Venkataramiah and elder brother Chandraiah at the age of 12.

The artists have been forced to adapt and nowadays they paint smaller versions of the scrolls, depicting a single episode or character from the traditional stories.

While earlier, they used natural white extracted from sea shells, black from lamp soot and yellow from turmeric.

The traditional art form became an inseparable part of the profession of the story-telling, balladeer community known as Kaki Padagollu.

The stage would also be a simple affair (many times even to the extent of being a rough and ready fixture), erected on four poles with a horizontal bar on which the scrolls could be displayed.

A floral border in the middle separates the two panels, while the linear narrative is demonstrated by holding in both hands or suspending it from a tree or a building and continually rolling it.

By virtue of its distinct traditional style and characteristics Cheriyal Paintings were recently given a Geographical Indications (GI) tag.

A recent innovation has been the painting of single pictures (as opposed to a continuous scroll) meant for wall decorations.

The Khadi cotton is treated with a mixture of starch (from rice), suddha matti (white mud), a paste of boiled tamarind seeds and gum water thrice.

•The subjects of these scroll paintings are easy to relate to – as the themes and stories are familiar – drawn from ancient literary, mythological and folk traditions.

Cheriyal scroll painting received Intellectual Property Rights Protection or Geographical Indication (GI) status in 2008.