Santhal Pat or Story Scroll

Drummers, dancers and a few quiet bystanders fill a long, narrow sheet.

This painted pat or story scroll is Santhal, from Bihar / Jharkhand, Bihar, India, and dates to the 19th or mid 20th century. It is painted paper. Scroll painters of eastern India, sometimes called patua, have generally painted stories from myth, epic and community belief, and some scrolls were made for the Santhal and their neighbors. Near the top a heavier figure stands between musicians holding small drums, and a tree and a woman serving a vessel appear lower. The paper is creased. It is 7 inches wide and 20.25 deep.

A whole village squeezed into a hand-width.