Keeping Cheriyal’s Nakashi art alive

This family of artists is determined to retain the core of this art form

Hyderabad: Seated at a rustic wooden table surrounded by paints and brushes, 63-year-old Dhanalakota Vaikuntam gets lost in his canvas for the day. As he precisely moves his ageing fingers to craft fine lines, his wife Vanaja beckons him to take a break.

“He is always like that… sits for hours together without a break. Our sons and I always have to keep reminding him to rest,” she says.

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The couple and their two sons — Rakesh and Vinay Kumar — are all Nakashi artists. This traditional art form has been passed down to them as a familial inheritance from at least the last 15 generations. They are perhaps the last few remaining families practising this art. They are also called the Cheriyal scroll painters, as they come from the Cheriyal village, around 90 km from Hyderabad.

“Long ago, before films came into being, storytellers used to move from one village to another narrating ‘Neethi Kathalu’. Our forefathers would paint those tales on a khadi cloth, which storytellers used as a visual aid,” says Rakesh, adding that a single scroll of these paintings contains 40-50 panels, each depicting a part of the story.

Cheriyal paintings can be identified with their striking red background and the dominant ‘Adda Geethalu’, the chequered lines which are found only in the paintings from that region. The outlines are drawn using brushes made of squirrels’ hair.

Although the family is determined to retain the core of this art form, they have figured a way to adapt it to the modern day. “When I was 14 and learning to paint, we made scrolls and masks. But today, we paint on wooden plates that can be hung as wall decor. We’ve also painted on walls,” says Vaikuntam.

Like his art, Vaikuntam also had to make changes in his life. He and his family lived in Cheriyal until 2013. But they moved to Hyderabad as it was the only way to keep their art alive. “With no storytellers, orders for traditional scroll paintings became rare. But luckily, during the Telangana agitation, Cheriyal paintings became widely known. We started getting orders from the city. It only made sense to move to Hyderabad,” says Rakesh.

Although Vaikuntam and Vanaja miss their village, they are happy that their children chose to carry forward their family heritage. Not just them, but their three-year-old grandson also insists on picking up a brush.