The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Reviving a traditional art to its glory

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 26, 2006

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Reviving a traditional art to its glory

Suresh Krishnamoorthy

Cheriyal art belongs to a five-century-old tradition

MAINTAINING TRADITION: D. Vaikuntham, one of the few artists involved in the famous Cheryal painting, a dying art in Andhra Pradesh, displaying his work at an ongoing exhibition-cum-sale in Hyderabad on Friday. — Photo: K_Gajendran

HYDERABAD: A flautist entrancing cows, Lord Krishna playing with damsels and Arjuna listening to divine advice. More scenes from the epics, the Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhagwad Gita.

Art etched on cloth with natural water colours, the Cheriyal works of art or scroll paintings as they are popularly called, belong to a five-century-old tradition that is dying now.

"We were earlier called `Chitrakars' and in the Nizam's rule, we were re-christened `Nakashi', the name that denotes our caste now," says D. Vaikuntham, a member of one of the two families in the mandal headquarters of Cheriyal in Warangal district that practices the dying art.

Intricate details

The intricate detail of the art apart, the preparation of the base material is interesting. A particular variety of Khadi is first coated thrice with a paste, a mixture of rice starch, white clay, edible gum and tamarind seed. This gives the required stiffness, apart from sealing pores and facilitating colour retention.

The colour black is derived from lampsoot, red from Ignlikam that is used in Ayurvedic medicine and yellow from `pevudi' stone. These basic ingredients are then mixed with stone and earth to give way to other shades.

Long lasting

"The colours do not fade for at least a century. Since childhood we used to see wandering artists use the scrolls in their story-telling sessions in villages," Vaikuntham says. The concept for the painting, be it on scrolls or those used to prepare the masks used by story tellers are all evolved in the minds of the artists, the painters.

"We are grateful to the Tourism Department for all the help we got. But what is needed is a concerted effort to infuse life into a dying art," says Vaikuntham who is currently busy churning out his fabulous objets d'art at a month-long exhibition-cum-sale at Le Café D'art in Banjara Hills.

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