Cheriyal Scroll Painting is a highly stylized version of Nakashi art, characterized by local motifs peculiar to the Telangana region. The art form gets its name from the village of Cheriyal in the Siddipet district, an hour's drive from Hyderabad, which serves as its last outpost.
Historical and Sociological Significance
The tradition originated several hundred years ago and was traditionally practiced by the Nakashi artists. The scrolls were used by the Kaki Podagollu, a traveling community of storytellers and balladeers. This team of performers (usually five people) would travel through Telangana, using the painted scrolls as a visual aid (akin to a comic strip or a film roll) to narrate stories, ballads, and epics to illiterate villagers. This made the Cheriyal scrolls once sociologically and culturally significant as a tool for mass education and entertainment.
Dimensions: A traditional scroll was generally in vertical format, approximately three feet in width and ranging up to 40–45 feet in length, depending on the story (with some epics like the Mahabharata reaching up to 60 feet).
Structure: The narrative was presented in a series of horizontal panels. A floral border separated the panels. A scroll would typically contain around 50 panels, with each depicting one part of the story.
Presentation: The scroll was continually rolled and unrolled while being held by the balladeer or suspended from a tree or fixture. The choice of episodes and the iconography of deities were customized based on the caste for which the scroll was made.
Preparation: The canvas is made ready through an elaborate procedure using Khadi cotton treated with a paste made from materials like tamarind seeds and gum water.
Distinctive Artistic Characteristics Cheriyal Paintings are easily recognized by the following peculiarities:
Color Palette: They are painted in vivid, mostly primary colors, with a striking predominance of the color red in the background. The red background is used to highlight the figures and scenes.
Style: The style reflects the unbridled imagination of the local artisans, lacking the academic rigor (like realistic perspective) of classical styles such as Tanjore or Mysore painting.
Iconography: The iconography of major deities like Shiva and Vishnu has a strong local idiom.
Proportion: The size of individual characters is determined by their relative importance in that particular scene; the most important character is the largest and most detailed.
Themes: Subjects are drawn from ancient literary, mythological, and folk traditions, including the Krishna Leela, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Shiva Puranam, Markandeya Puranam, interspersed with ballads and folk-stories of local communities like Gauda and Madiga.
Rural Scenes: The main narrative is "spiced up" with endearingly depicted scenes from simple rural life, such as women doing chores or men working in paddy fields.
Setting: The costumes and settings are typical, reflecting the culture of Andhra/Telangana.
Last Artists: Cheriyal is the last village standing for this art form, with exactly three artist families still pursuing the occupation.
Masters: D. Vaikuntham, whose family has continued the tradition since the 15th century, is one of the masters. Other government-recognized artists include Vanaja & Ganesh and the extended families of D. Nageshar, D. Rakesh, D. Vinay Kumar, D. Venkataramana, and D. Pavan Kumar.
Adaptation: Artists are adapting the art form to modern demand. The scrolls have transitioned from having up to 50 panels down to a single panel for use as wall art or framed gifts. They also create masks and dolls modeled along the same mythological and folkloric themes.
Recognition: The Cheriyal Paintings received the Geographical Indication (GI) Status (or Intellectual Property Rights Protection status) in 2007.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheriyal_scroll_painting
http://www.telanganatourism.gov.in/partials/about/arts-crafts/cheriyal-scroll-paintings.html
http://www.goheritagerun.com/focus-dying-cheriyal-art-warangal/
http://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/Sunday-Hans/2017-02-04/Painting-Stories-of-Cheriyal-in-Telangana/278357
By Neeharika Satyavada
Traditional Format and Technique
Material: Canvas scrolls made from Khadi cloth.Dimensions: A traditional scroll was generally in vertical format, approximately three feet in width and ranging up to 40–45 feet in length, depending on the story (with some epics like the Mahabharata reaching up to 60 feet).
Structure: The narrative was presented in a series of horizontal panels. A floral border separated the panels. A scroll would typically contain around 50 panels, with each depicting one part of the story.
Presentation: The scroll was continually rolled and unrolled while being held by the balladeer or suspended from a tree or fixture. The choice of episodes and the iconography of deities were customized based on the caste for which the scroll was made.
Preparation: The canvas is made ready through an elaborate procedure using Khadi cotton treated with a paste made from materials like tamarind seeds and gum water.
Distinctive Artistic Characteristics Cheriyal Paintings are easily recognized by the following peculiarities:
Color Palette: They are painted in vivid, mostly primary colors, with a striking predominance of the color red in the background. The red background is used to highlight the figures and scenes.
Style: The style reflects the unbridled imagination of the local artisans, lacking the academic rigor (like realistic perspective) of classical styles such as Tanjore or Mysore painting.
Iconography: The iconography of major deities like Shiva and Vishnu has a strong local idiom.
Proportion: The size of individual characters is determined by their relative importance in that particular scene; the most important character is the largest and most detailed.
Themes: Subjects are drawn from ancient literary, mythological, and folk traditions, including the Krishna Leela, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Shiva Puranam, Markandeya Puranam, interspersed with ballads and folk-stories of local communities like Gauda and Madiga.
Rural Scenes: The main narrative is "spiced up" with endearingly depicted scenes from simple rural life, such as women doing chores or men working in paddy fields.
Setting: The costumes and settings are typical, reflecting the culture of Andhra/Telangana.
Current Status and Preservation
Dying Art Form: The tradition is largely phased out due to the rise of mainstream entertainment like cinema and the written word.Last Artists: Cheriyal is the last village standing for this art form, with exactly three artist families still pursuing the occupation.
Masters: D. Vaikuntham, whose family has continued the tradition since the 15th century, is one of the masters. Other government-recognized artists include Vanaja & Ganesh and the extended families of D. Nageshar, D. Rakesh, D. Vinay Kumar, D. Venkataramana, and D. Pavan Kumar.
Adaptation: Artists are adapting the art form to modern demand. The scrolls have transitioned from having up to 50 panels down to a single panel for use as wall art or framed gifts. They also create masks and dolls modeled along the same mythological and folkloric themes.
Recognition: The Cheriyal Paintings received the Geographical Indication (GI) Status (or Intellectual Property Rights Protection status) in 2007.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheriyal_scroll_painting
http://www.telanganatourism.gov.in/partials/about/arts-crafts/cheriyal-scroll-paintings.html
http://www.goheritagerun.com/focus-dying-cheriyal-art-warangal/
http://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/Sunday-Hans/2017-02-04/Painting-Stories-of-Cheriyal-in-Telangana/278357
By Neeharika Satyavada
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