Cheriyal Scroll Paintings is a very old traditional painting of Telangana state. Cheriyal paintings are the pictorial presentation of scenes from Indian mythology. These paintings are practiced in Cheriyal village of Warangal district in the Telangana State. The presentation of this painting is narratives like film roles or comic books. Traditional folk singers and artists used to use this as a tool for visual presentation with harmonium, tabla and other instruments to narrate the story. Cheriyal paintings are stylized versions of Nakashi art (scrolls of narratives from mythology and folklore). The artisans have been identified by the ruler of the Kakatiya era and the Nizams around 400 years ago. Originally artisans used to work on Sawdust Masks, Toy making and Scroll painting skills, Now became popular as Cheriyal Painting.
Cheriyal scroll paintings depicting stories from Indian mythology and intimately tied to the shorter stories from the Epics like Krishna Leela, Ramayan, and Mahabharatha among other folklore from the region. These paintings were used for educating the villagers and kept them entertained at that time. Each community could only narrate for specific of other castes as they had its favorite heroes and heroines and stories from the local myth. Other than mythical stories they also focus on community-specific stories like fishermen, cobblers, food gatherers, etc. The size of paintings varies from 1 foot to 60 foot depending upon how many long stories are and a number of characters in the stories. It is also used to perform for over three nights in a row which could stretch up to 20 days. These scroll paintings received an honor to get a mention in a Catalogue of the British Museum.
Making of the canvas is an elaborate process from natural resources like khadi cotton canvas with rice starch, white mud, boiled tamarind seeds and gum water. Once the canvas is ready, the figures of landscapes, animals, forests, birds and architectural features are drawn on it. Then these figures are outlined to define the drawing and lastly, the colors are filled in them. The red color in the background is used to highlight the figures in the paintings. The face and skin are painted as blue and yellow for the gods and goddesses, brown and darker for demons, pink color for humans. All the colors used are made by artists from natural resources. After completion of Paintings, it is decorated with flowers and leaves in the borders. Cheriyal artists also used to make masks and dolls which is an integral part of the storytelling traditions. This mask was made from coconut shells and sawdust with tamarind seed paste. And dolls made from a light wood called tellapuniki along with sawdust and tamarind seed paste.
With the invention of TV, cinema and internet these scroll are dying and is just limited to the Cheriyal village. The artists have to adapt smaller versions of scroll and solo events or single episodes from the stories. Nowadays, Instead of a continuous scroll, single pictures are painted as wall decorations. The size of the paintings is also decreased which goes up to 2–3 feet in length. Synthetic watercolor has taken the place of natural colors. Only three artist families are pursuing this traditional art in Cheriyal.
Cheriyal Scroll painting has received Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and Geographic Indication (GI) in 2007 for its cultural values and rich heritage. Although the Cheriyal scroll paintings were renowned across India and the world for its form of story-telling, this art is dying day by day due to a change in demands, unawareness about this art to young generations, Market unavailability, etc. Few artists are still trying to make this art alive by innovating in paintings and making different products like dolls and masks.
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