Patua Pathographies

Abstract

The intertwined relationship between disease and humanities has been formed for a long time with the description of Athenian Plague in Sophocles’ tragedies, the paintings of Black Death like “The Triumph of Death” (1562) by Pieter Bruegel, the Elder, and also in many Shakespearean dramas, to name a few. But these narratives of health issues have not been distinctly studied till the birth of Medical Humanities or, broadly speaking, Health Humanities of which pathographies have been a very essential wing articulating the illness and treatment of a disease by a patient or a caregiver. With the recent epidemic outbreak of Covid-19 and the worldwide lockdown, artists are engaging themselves to narrate about the deadly disease as found in the works of the Patuas of Naya, the “village of painters” as described by Frank J. Korom. The comparatively less unsung artists of Naya like Swarna Chitrakar, Anwar Chitrakar, Ananda Chitrakar, Rahima Chitrakar, and Sandhya Chitrakar have painted and narrated issues related to the present pandemic. Like the magnificent murals and online opera performances, the Patachitras or scroll paintings of the Patuas convey useful messages and try to create awareness in this time of severe crisis. This chapter aims to define pathographies as a part of Health Humanities and how the scroll paintings of the Patuas play the role of pathographies during the present pandemic.

Notes on the Contributor

Thakurdas Jana is a state-aided college lecturer (Category 1) in the Department of English, Bhatter College, Dantan. He has received his M.Phil from Ravenshaw University, Cuttack. His research focuses on literature and disease, and Health Humanities.