Understanding Kālīghāṭ Paintings: The Expression and Evolution
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| Title | Understanding Kālīghāṭ Paintings: The Expression and Evolution |
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| Author(s) | Raj Bijalwan |
| Platform | Bharatiya Jnana Sarita |
| Categories | Arts & Architecture/Kalā, Vāstu & Śilpa |
| Year | 2026 |
| Type of Article | Repurposed Advanced |
| Difficulty Level | Advanced |
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Emerging on the banks of River Hooghly around the sacred mandira of Devī Kālī, the tradition of Kālīghāṭ paintings has… Emerging on the banks of River Hooghly around the sacred mandira of Devī Kālī, the tradition of Kālīghāṭ paintings has been a reflection of the society's core values. Its emergence amidst the paradoxical states of a religious centre and township unravels the social life prevailing in Kolkata. While the paintings marked a departure from the trends existing in traditional miniature art, they also ensured that the focus of the paintings remained on the deities or the subject and not on others. The evolution of this art form allowed for the paintings to touch every aspect of human experience and the divine.
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Introduction
Art holds a central place in Bhāratīya civilisation and the Indian Knowledge System. Many forms of art convey stories from epics, purāṇas, and other sources. Thus, they effectively transmit jñāna to people while communicating the morals, ethics, and social intricacies through those tales and stories. Various storytelling practices have emerged since millennia, carrying śruti and smṛti traditions forward. Kālīghāṭ paintings are one such tradition that has emerged from the village scroll-painters who retold stories through scrolls and songs.
Kālīkṣetra, or the ‘Land of Devī Kālī’ on the eastern bank of river Hooghly, is centered around the local shrine to Devī Kālī. As the neighborhood took shape around the temple, a mystical, sacred, and bhakti-rich landscape unfolded in several ways. It is believed that Kālīkṣetra is the place where Devī Sati's right toe fell. However, the sacred nature of the place subtly shifted with the colonial era engulfing large parts of Bhārata. Amidst the dualities of tīrtha and township, the Kālīghāṭ painting emerged.
Purpose and Scope
The article delves into the realms of Bhārata’s art form of Kālīghāṭ paintings and attempts to explain its emergence along its evolution. Bhārata, under colonial rule, witnessed several changes. It was with such changes that the art form took shape. The Kālīghāṭ paintings reflected stories from the society. The article relates to religious and non-religious forms of the Kālīghāṭ paintings and underscores the modern relevance of this art form.
Kālīghāṭ paintings seem simple at the first sight, however within themselves these paintings showcase an entire world. Amidst the busy, noisy, and sacred yet modern life of Kolkata, the village scroll-painters revisited their methods of conveying stories in the 19th century. Incidentally, Paṭuās arrived in the city around this time. The Paṭuās, belonging to the rural areas, were painter-storytellers who went door to door along with accompanied by narrative scrolls and songs. The Paṭuās sang and, through panels, conveyed the stories. The performances, scrolls, and songs would suit a village courtyard. However, these forms of storytelling would not be relatable to those living an urban busy life.
The Paṭuās changed their practice and began painting on single sheets of paper. Every single sheet included a scene related to devī-devatās, couple, joke, etc. This suited the urban space since anyone could carry the paintings as souvenirs. The paintings were originally meant to be used as souvenirs for devotees visiting the temple, but it evolved over time to feature socio-political commentary and religious traditions as well [1].
Religious Paintings
The religious paintings portrayed the Kālīghāṭ style in its purest form. Having originated in the vicinity of the Kālī mandira, the paintings invoked divinity amidst the growing urban spaces in the town. The painting of Devī Kālī filled the entire page, presenting her with dark skin, bright red tongue, loosened hairs, and widened eyes. She was depicted with multiple arms, the tri-netra, and one arm holding a severed head of an asura. Notably, there is nothing else existing on the sheet. The usually blank background sometimes showcased a simple halo behind Devī Kālī. This halo focused the viewer’s concentration on her, revealing her in both the terrifying as well as reassuring prominence.
In the painting of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā, the composition is presented into a compact form. Śrī Kṛṣṇa is shown with blue skin, a peacock feather, and a flute. Rādhā is portrayed in sārī and jewellery. Both figures are leaning towards each other. The background is blank, marking a shift from the intricate backgrounds prevalent in the traditional Bhāratīya miniatures. The strong black ink outlines of the paintings direct attention entirely on the forms of deities.
Another aspect of religious paintings is depicted in homely form with Devī Pārvatī holding infant Śrī Gaṇeśa in her lap. The powerful Devī Pārvatī is shown seated, with her motherly focus entirely on her child. A cosmic event turns into a moment of maternal affection through this painting. In this particular painting, the background features in warm, tinted ochre-yellow colour. The shift from asymmetric to symmetrical painting is evident from the painting of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. The brothers stand arm-in-arm, cross legged. Śrī Kṛṣṇa, blue skinned, wears a yellow dhotī while Balarāma with a fair complexion wears a blue one. The black outlines are present while silver pigments are used for layering and highlighting necklaces, jewellery, etc.; adding luminous quality to the paintings. The folk artists move away from complex narratives of older court miniatures to present symmetrical, iconic masterpieces.
The shift in the Kālīghāṭ paintings brought a human, local, and contemporary touch to the paintings. With the change in subject matter, the paintings were no longer solely based on divine elements. The artists chose moments from common life in colonial Kolkata but continued to carry black calligraphic outlines, bare backgrounds, etc.
In one well-known composition, a man stands with a fish knife ready to hit a woman. The woman is shown kneeling before him and making the last attempt to shield herself. Everything seems to have suspended in time. The painting showcased an event of social tragedy. This painting also marks the shift to secular themes.
Another painting of Śyāmakānta wrestling with a tiger, often identified with a wrestler Soham Svāmi, fosters the Kālīghāṭ tradition of creating tension by using fluid, interlocking forms. The wrestler wears jewellery while the tiger is painted decoratively. The interlocked bodies render both a half-heroic and half-legendary spectacle; the black outlines unites the man and the tiger into a compact unit.
The Kālīghāṭ paintings turned the introspection lens of the society inward when women took center stage. Women were depicted with energy or with frightening aspects dominant at times. The change in depictions came with changing socio-cultural scenarios in colonial Kolkata. The wife (bībī) is shown hitting her husband (bābū) with a broom in a painting. The wife's dominance is furthered with the broom raised and the husband, in his dhoti and coat, doing nothing to shield himself. The disciplining of the husband by his wife is a depiction of the wife as the centre of the picture. In another painting, the bābū and the bībī are portrayed in moments of tenderness, love, or desire. The couple, shown in an intimate embrace, depicts the western influence in the Kālīghāṭ paintings.
Through introspective images like that of a lady applying kajal along the edge of her eye, with her hands painted red with alta, the artists aimed to capture a moment of self-decoration and showcase the mundane moments of urban life.
The Kālīghāṭ paintings intially benefitted from industrialisation of Kolkata. However, mechanical printing entered bazaar art, making the existence of the Kālīghāṭ paintings difficult and unsustainable. The lithographic presses and chromolithograph studios poured out pictures of devī-devatās, heroes, and other scenes in large numbers. The artists of Kālīghāṭ paintings tried using printed outlines and colouring them to improve the efficiency; however, the hand painted sheets could not compete with the speed and scale of machines. The Kālīghāṭ style was criticised, especially by the British artists, for also portraying paintings on the themes of politically charged subject matter and its non-conformity to Victorian standards [1].
Slowly the tradition disappeared from the city in the early decades of the twentieth century. The Paṭuās either abandoned painting for the bazaar or chose different vocations all together. While the tradition suffered, the paintings travelled across the world. The British administrators, missionaries, and travellers bought the paintings as souvenirs. The purchased sheets are now a part of museums in London, Wales, Prague, and other cities. Rudyard Kipling is said to have donated over 200 Kālīghāṭ paintings to Victoria and Albert Museum in the United Kingdom [1]. The original paintings travelled around the world with the British administrators, missionaries, and travellers, who bought them as souvenirs. Today, a large number of paintings are a part of museums in London and in the Cleveland Museum of Art [2].
A Bhāratīya artist named Jāminī Roy, having lost his passion for Western ways of looking at art, turned to Paṭacitra and Kālīghāṭ paintings. He used the visual logic of bazār and applied principles of Kālīghāṭ paintings in his work. Folk art eventually became the basis for an indigenous modernism. Through the realistic charm of Kālīghāṭ, the artists managed to express various human and divine experiences. The looping narrative emerges to allow the graphic-visual image travel around the world without losing its identity. As the practice continues in the villages of Bengal, this rich tradition carried out by Paṭuās continues to be handed down through the generations [3]. Kālīghāṭ paintings hold the magic that unravelled both human and divine aspects for the audience.
Conclusion
Kālīghāṭ paintings, as pioneers of contemporary art, still continue to be practiced in villages by Paṭuās [3]. The tradition showcases both the divine as well as mortal elements of life quite clearly. The traditional artists never shy away from projecting all aspects of human life, providing a path for the paintings to reach out to the public. The real charm of Kālīghāṭ might have suffered from the colonial policies, but it left a mark that travelled around the world in some way or the other. The contemporary artforms inspired by Kālīghāṭ paintings continue to carry forth their rich legacy in the modern world.
References:
Impart. (2026, February 17). Kalighat Painting | Styles & Movements, Modern & Contemporary Art | Impart. https://imp-art.org/articles/kalighat-painting/
Mukherjee, Anuja. (2020). Kalighat Paintings: A National Artifact, the Folk and Counter Representation in the Making of Modern Art in Bengal. Chitrolekha Journal on Art and Design. 4. 10.21659/cjad.41.v4n104. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355318510_Kalighat_Paintings_A_National_Artifact_the_Folk_and_Counter_Representation_in_the_Making_of_Modern_Art_in_Bengal
Sanyal, P., A N Sarkar & C Mackay, Ajit Ghose, Jyotindra Jain, Chakravarti, S., Dey, M., Archer, W. G., & Sinha, S. (2013). Kalighat Paintings: A review. In Chitrolekha International Magazine on Art and Design (Vol. 1). https://www.chitrolekha.com/V3/n1/02_Kalighat_Paintings.pdf
Original Article Information
- Original Article Link: https://www.brhat.in/dhiti/gods-gossips-and-the-city-a-journey-through-kalighat-paintings
- Original Article Details: Explore the vibrant, changing world of Kalighat paintings, from religious divinities to an evolving modern landscape.