Crafts / Cheriyal Scroll Painting

Cheriyal Scroll Painting

State: Telangana
Material: Khadi cloth · Natural colour
Rarity: Rare

A story that unrolls like a film strip

About

Red-backed narrative cloth scrolls from Cheriyal, painted by the Nakashi community for travelling storytellers.

Cheriyal scroll painting is a stylised religious painting on cloth, rich in the local motifs of Telangana. The scrolls are painted in a narrative format, panel after panel, much like a film roll or a comic strip, telling stories from the epics and Puranas and from local folklore. It is named after Cheriyal, the village where the art survives.

The painters belong to the Nakashi community, and the scrolls were traditionally made for storytelling bards called Kaki Padagollu, who carried them from village to village and unrolled them panel by panel as they sang. Traditional scrolls were several metres long, and a scroll could easily have around fifty panels.

Today the long scrolls are rare, and the artists mostly paint smaller pieces showing a single episode or character, which can be framed and hung on a wall. The same artisans also make painted masks and wooden dolls, and decorate objects such as boxes and greeting cards.

How it’s made

The canvas is prepared with care. Khadi cotton is coated three times with a mixture of rice starch, a white earth called suddha matti, a paste of boiled tamarind seeds and gum water. Each coat has to dry completely before the next is applied, which gives a firm, smooth surface.

The painter draws the outline directly on the cloth with a brush, without a pencil sketch, and the outlines are sharp and confident. The traditional colours are made by the artists from natural sources: white from sea shells, black from lamp soot and yellow from turmeric, along with earth colours; red is the dominant background colour. Brushes are traditionally made of squirrel hair tied to a stick.

The story is told in horizontal bands of panels, separated by borders. The artists do not use perspective. Instead, the relative importance of a figure decides its size, so the hero or deity is the largest and most detailed, and lesser figures are smaller. Scenes of village life, with women working in kitchens, farmers in paddy fields and festivals, are added to the main narrative.

Key features

Painted on khadi cloth coated with starch, white earth and tamarind paste
Bold primary colours with a red background
Narrative panels read like a film roll or comic strip
No perspective: size shows the importance of the figure
Stories from the epics, Puranas and local folk heroes
Made by the Nakashi community of Cheriyal for Kaki Padagollu storytellers
Geographical Indication registered

History

Painting on cloth scrolls to tell stories is an old Indian tradition. Painted scrolls, with names such as yamapatas and charanachitras, are mentioned in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist texts, and scholars have traced references to such scroll paintings as far back as the second century BC. The scrolls were a way of teaching religious and social values to people who could not read, through recitation of stories accompanied by pictures.

Cheriyal scrolls are described as having a history of over four hundred years and as a distinctly local tradition of the Telangana region. They drew on temple art, the Kalamkari tradition in the Golconda region and the wider graphic traditions of the Deccan. In earlier times the scrolls served the working communities of the villages, such as toddy tappers, washermen, leatherworkers, weavers and farmers, and told the exploits of their own folk heroes alongside the epics. The story chosen and the way the deities were drawn depended on the community for whom the scroll was made.

The tradition has shrunk to Cheriyal because the traditional patrons no longer commission long scrolls. Artists have adapted by painting shorter pieces, and some use modern colours. Cheriyal scroll painting has been given a Geographical Indication, and efforts are made to keep the art alive.

Facts

Red ground A red background. Cheriyal paintings usually have a red background, with figures painted in bold primary colours.
Many panels A scroll of panels. A traditional scroll is arranged in horizontal bands of panels, and could have around fifty panels, shown one at a time as the bard narrated.
Kaki Padagollu For travelling storytellers. The scrolls were made for the Kaki Padagollu bards, who travelled from village to village narrating stories from the scrolls with music.
Squirrel-hair brush Hand-made brushes. Brushes are traditionally made by tying squirrel hair to a stick.

Market

Smaller pieces for the modern home

Cheriyal paintings are now sold as framed paintings, small scrolls, wall hangings, masks, boxes and greeting cards through craft emporia, fairs and online, and by the artists directly. Few full-length scrolls are made. Printed copies exist; genuine pieces are hand-painted with firm outlines and a red ground.

Sustainability

Natural materials, a fragile tradition

Traditional Cheriyal uses cotton, tamarind seed paste, natural earth and plant colours and brushes of animal hair, but today many artists use readymade colours. The main challenge is the future of the art itself, as very few artists remain, so buying directly from them helps.

Products

Painted scrolls: Narrative scrolls, now mostly shorter than the traditional ones
Framed single-episode paintings: A single scene or character for the wall
Masks: Painted wooden or coconut-shell masks
Painted boxes and greeting cards: Small decorated items
Jewellery boxes and gifts: Small modern pieces with Cheriyal motifs

Words to know

Nakashi: The community of painters who make Cheriyal scrolls.
Kaki Padagollu: The bard community who narrate stories using the scrolls.
Suddha matti: A white earth used in preparing the canvas.
Panel: One section of the scroll that illustrates one part of the story.
Khadi: Handspun, handwoven cotton cloth.

Try it yourself

Cheriyal Fridge Magnet · Beginner · 45 - 90 mins (plus drying)
Cheriyal Painting · Advanced · 5 - 10 hours (over 2-3 days)