Traditional Center : Cherial in Warangal District
Famous In : Telangana
Serve As : Ideal Wall Hangings
Ideal Themes : Scenes From Ramayana, Mahabharata And Other
Mythologies
There is a very picturesque origin to the art of painting. "Narayan",
the Supreme Being was engaged in meditation when celestial dancing
girls apsaras tried to disturb him with a display of coquetry and
blandishments.
The God conceived of a plan to cure the maidens of their vanity. He
extracted the juice of a mango tree, and using that as his paint, he
drew an imaginary portrait of a nymph, large eyed and delicate, with
a form so filled with grace that no Goddess or woman, could vie with
her in all the three worlds.
Since Apasaras felt shame when they saw this painted maiden,
Urvashi, and crept away silently from God's presence. And the
picture into which Divine skill had induced the golden breath of
life, became the ideal form of feminine beauty. Vishwakarma, the
architect of heaven, was then instructed in the art and science of
painting so that he might transmit his knowledge to the people of
the earth.
The origin of folk paintings is very interesting. Artists in the
medieval age used the medium of paintings to convey messages from
religious texts. The words of bard and poets were also converted
into paintings for the common folk to see. These paintings sometimes
ran into scrolls of several meters when depicting a chapter from
Indian mythology. Telengana region is particularly well known for
its folk paintings, very colourful and bright, that serve as ideal
hall hangings. It is believed that the divine architect Vishwakarma
handed it down to the artisans on earth. Mostly, the uses colour of
folk paintings are red, yellow, green and blue.
Cherial in Warangal District is the traditional centre of this art.
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