The future of the 100-year-old traditional Nakashi art form rests on the shoulders of artist D. Vaikuntam and his family, as they are the only ones in Telangana who continue to practise the art form.
The artist who took part in a government exhibition two months ago, was recently a part of artist Laxman Aelay’s documentary Patam Kathalu. But, the last Cherial scroll, a version of the Nakashi art form, that Vaikuntam created was three years ago.
It was a massive 4x54 ft representation of the Mahabharata. “The art of the storytelling form Patam Katha has almost died. And with it, scroll paintings too disappeared. So we have learnt to adapt. We now create cherial paintings but of smaller proportions and of different subjects,” says Vaikuntam.
Despite painting his first scroll only at the age of 14, Vaikuntam was familiar with the art form because his family painted scrolls for a living. “In the early ’60s, Nakashi had almost disappeared and so my father didn’t let my brother take it up; eventually my brother became a tailor. But in 1974, I started painting after my father fell ill,” he says.
Now, 41 years since his first art piece, Vaikuntam has created 50 scrolls. And that is a huge number, considering that it takes a minimum of six months to create each piece. The process is laborious as everything from the cloth to the gum and paints are natural.
“On a khadi cloth, we apply a paste made from tamarind seeds, white rangoli powder, a natural gum and starch. The cloth is then allowed to dry for a few days,” he explains. When the story-tellers approach the artists, they discuss the required mythology and an outline is prepared.
Then the artists begin working. “We start gathering all natural colours by collecting raw materials like shells, red sand. for the paints,” he says. “Collecting these materials is a laborious process and so that takes up most of our time,” he adds “When I was a child there were many families that painted scrolls. Over the years, as money stopped flowing they took up jobs like tailoring or carpentry. But I want to carry on the legacy... and now my son will take over from me.”
