Chaksudan Pat Art: The Santhal Art of Afterlife

Chaksudan Pat is a ceremonial art practice of the Santhals inhabiting the regions of Bengal and Jharkhand. The paintings are commissioned after someone dies. The patua will onset characteristically depict the deceased without eyeballs to denote that the body is devoid of a spirit. Without sight, spirits would be unable to navigate in the afterlife. It is when the family pays the artist that he renders the eyeballs on the painted figure, ritualistically lending the person a sight. Traditionally, on hearing of a death in the Santhal community, the artist approached the mourning family to present them with already drawn figures- man and woman, young and old, of varying ages. Often the family will offer daily items as an offering to the painter, to draw the eyes on a selected figure. These exchanged objects are usually shown in the painting. Given the cultural significance of this ritual, the painter is viewed as a quasi-magician in the community- ushering the passage of the dead from the mortal world to the afterlife.