Patna Kalam revival: How Bihar is bringing back the lost art that captured everyday India

Key points

• Picture watercolours on imported paper, in delicate brushwork on pale, bare backgrounds, and the stark image of two men in dhotis working in a distillery.
• Or a woman, dressed in blue-and-yellow ghaghra and dupatta, dancing in a palace hall while the musicians play.
• These artworks are part of an 18th-century Indian painting tradition known as Patna Kalam.
• It was a pre-photographic visual documentation of the daily lives of ordinary people, featuring vegetable sellers, blacksmiths and servants fetching groceries, among others.
• Last December, Patna Kalam paintings were part of an exhibition at the Bihar Museum Biennale 2025, where it witnessed a renewed interest.