Santhal Pat or Story Scroll

Long folded strip packed with animal-headed figures, a river and a hanging pot.

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. Horned and animal-faced figures cluster in groups, and one human figure holds a rectangular panel at the top. Wavy water and a small pot appear at the bottom. It is 7.6 inches wide and 22.75 deep.

A crowded cast and a good deal of mischief.