motif analysis

CHITTARA FOLK ART OF KARNATAKA 

 Aarey Poopalee (Symbol of help)

        This is another art of interesting layers used by building a house. Besides the personal space created by man, He also created small space using this art of layers. This was to give hospitality to the birds and insects such as Peeti aka Pathanga. This implies not to be selfish and self centered but to lend out one's helping hand to the needy and the helpless.

Peeti/ Pathanga (symbol of guest)

      This is a butterfly. Deewarufolks have a strong association with it leads to the creation of the butterfly and other insects, birds and animals.

Kholhee (Symbolizes time & Economic growth)

         In those days, rooster/hen played a very prominent role to the Deewaru folks serving many purpose. Due to the death of cocks, Hen was the indicator of the time. The sitting of the drawn was marked by the sound of the bird. And they were also used to serve the guests as an item of food, , selling the eggs and roster itself, in exchange of some money.


 Yayni ( Symbol of support & awerness )

          This depicted that the married couple clime the ladder of life with complete awerness for a better future and also indicaed the importence of support.

Madhumanga & Madhnageethi (Symbol of Eternal bonding)

    This is the concept of chittara painting is based on Bride with bridegroom, an epitom of unconditional love.

motif analysis

                                                      CHITTARA FOLK ART OF KARNATAKA

                                                                                                                                      date- 25|01|2017



       Jelly Saallu (Symbolizes Offering)

        This is an offering done in the form of decorating the bride and bridegroom. This implies that we need to offer our gratitude to the almighty for the blessing received. These offerings can be in any form, be it through prayers, social service etc.

Thondlu

            This is a strap used to tie the Jelly Sallu and this is put nly to the bride.


   Chanduvina Sallu  (Symbol of friendship)

               This is a flower which usually comes in yellow or orange color but mostly it does in yellow. This flower is extensively used during the festivals of Deewaru community folks because it is believed that this flower is extensively used liked by the gods. Beside gods, even animals like them, specially monkey which is very much fond of eating them. Moreover, yellow color symbolizes friendship and adds more meaning while during a wedding , which promotes friendship between the two families as a remembrance to this, lines of marigold flowers are drawn in chittara painting.


  Poopalee (Symbol of oneness)

           This represents eyes and also intersecting layers used on the roof top to cover the open space. The sense of distinction starts from the eye. The idea behind this symbol was to convey that there should not be any discrimination between people and nature.

CHITTARA FOLK ART OF KARNATAKA

                                                                                                                                  Date- 18|01|2017
     This article is all about the analysis of Chittara symbols and motifs. I had a talk with a museum official, he was able to infer some subtle meaning of the Chittara painting.

    Yaileyh ( symbolizes subtle Attraction/ Intimate Relation ship)

        These are vertical or horizontal "lines" in Chittara painting. Without these lines, the paintings can not be started. The lines mean subtle attraction between two individuals. The attraction is due to to the feeling between each other. For instance, the feeling of a mother would have towards her children, the feelings between married couples, the feeling between of losing someones (memories linger) etc. These feelings are to be experienced than expressing it through mere words, for they would lose beauty of it.
       When a wedding takes place, none of host family members would draw Chittara but their relatives, friends etc would do it for them because of the attraction aroused in the feelings between te individuals for a better compatibility.

Nilee & Nillee Kochu ( symbol of strength)

                                                                         Nilee

                                                                 Nilee Kcochu

                

   In the ancient days, men used bamboos for shelter. To protect himself from being attacked by animals and from extremes climatic conditions, he built the house with the help of the bamboos. Initially, these bamboos were laid diagonally on the roof. But when it no longer could withstand the strong winds, he plastered the bamboos with mud. And further to reinforce the bamboos laid, he placed another set of bamboos diagonally in the opposite direction and this represents Nilee Kochu. This symbol implies the strength of teamwork and goes with the popular proverb

“unity is strength”



Bhasinga ( Symbol of Divinity)

                                                                           Bhasinga

             This is tied around the Pehta worn by the bridegroom during the wedding. As it symbolizes divinity, when it is worn by the bridegroom, he is considered equal to a god and is considered divine. This implies that the bridegroom along with the bride is equivalent to God and the practices held during the wedding are to be done meticulously and with utmost reverence.

  

There are more motifs and symbols, will be published on next articles....

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 Chittara folk art of Karnataka

                                                                                                                              Date:- 18|01|2017
           The purpose of this research is to study the symbols of Chittara art and to pay attention that is required in preserving the folk art with the help of its contextual relevance to the society as it is structured by the Deewaru community folks. There is very little information on this art due to the unavailability of literature in Maland (Karnataka), where the art originated. I have researched on the symbols, motifs socio-cultural life, and the material culture that has  been used on the artwork by Deewaru people of Maland. I have contacted the CFRIA (http://www.cfria.in/), art journal from Sristi College of Art (Bangalore),   and gathered the information. Also, there are few books and journal paper from Hindu (http://www.thehindu.com/2000/08/28/stories/1328076c.htm) that helped me a lot.The Research is aimed at throwing light on this dying folk art and help the art get its pulse back by creating new design and aesthetics from it.
  

     Introduction
               In the deep forest of Karnataka, in the southern part of India, there lives a tribe called Deewaru. People of this tribal community have a beautiful folk art called Chittara, which is the mix of music, Painting and the lifestyle of Deewaru people. Women folk of this tribe are in-charge of their community, the painting which used to be done by women,. they used to sing the folk song during the time of painting.  Traditionally, Deewaru women painted the mud walls of their huts on special occasions such as weddings, festivals and also in the auspicious days. In a single word, this art form represents the hustle bustle of their village life. Along with various type of ceremonies, the birds and animals around them, the children playing toys are also represented through geometric expression. They also used lots of flower for pujas, that were collected from the forest.

                                                                 Deewaru people




       Deewaru are agrarian folks and worship nature with utmost reverence. They mainly cultivate rice, sugar, and areca nut and they used to collect coconuts from the jungle. They are mostly owners  of farm lands, illiterate and financially weaker. It is a Matriarchal Society where women are highly respected and control most of the activities. This power relationship between men and women is also manifested in the social culture like wedding ceremonies where  the bride's family commands higher respect. The community is culturally integrated by unique customs and ritualistic practices. These practices reflect their interaction and profound relationship with environment. The traditions and ritualistic practices of the community are incomplete without the practice of of Chittara.

                                      Chittara paining on paper in modern days done by paper
 


 This is about the sociao-culture of Deewaru people. The next post will be about the motifs and symbols that are used in Chittara paintings......

                                                             Chittara painting on paper

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agrarian- relating to cultivated land or the cultivation of land.
 matriarchal -relating to or denoting a form of social organization in which a woman is head.

1. 
   

           Hi,
                 I am Suresh, a student of pearl academy ( Design school in India). I am writing this blog on the folk art movement in India. Folk art generally means the art that produced from an indegenionous culture or by originatig from different tribespeople. As students, we are taught to associate with indigenous peoples and ancient ideas.
             Last week I had a walk through Delhi Craft & Handloom Museam (http://nationalcraftsmuseum.nic.in/) and Delhi Haat. I have been to museums before but the experience this time was different. I was a keen observer and not just an ignorant tourist. I observed, studied and was fascinated by the differnt kinds of folk art, crafts, and the handlooms from different parts of India.
           Every art has its own style, materials and has its own stories behind their rituals, their gods, their lifestyles and different esthetics's. Few art works like Phad art (Rajasthan), Warli Art (Maharastra), Tantra (Rajasthan), Chittara (Karnataka) are memorble. Apart from that there were lots of crafts and craft people, they were working on the spot and selling their craft work. People from Madhya Pradesh were performing folk dances and singing their own folk song. There was a huge number of different tribal houses from diferent states of India. It was a great experience to be introduced to all types of tribes in India.
         Then I visited Lalit Kala Academy (New Delhi) where I found a libery on Art, crft, Literature and other cultural books. And I found lots of books that has a connection that I saw in the DCHM. also there was an exibition on modern art.
         On the very next Day I visited Delhi Haat (New Delhi) , there was a art and craft exibition covering Indo-Iranian cultural.
After having looked at so many artforms and crafts, I realized that this exhibition fascinated me the most. I knew what I wanted to research on. So this blog is about the Chittara folk art.

      Chittras are wall paintings, traditionally done by the deewaru people of Maland (Karanataka)