Contents: Preface. Introduction. 1. The folk painters: their socio-religious conditions. 2. Thematic contents. 3. Material and technique. 4. The panorama of patachitras. 5. Other components of the mosaic: paintings on floor, wall, chala, sara and Tasa. 6. Revivalism: a myth or a reality. Appendices: 1. Selected excerpts of interviews with the folk painters. 2. Glossary. Bibliography. Description of the plates. Plates. Index.

"Folk paintings of Bengal is a serious attempt to systematically study the origin, development and steady displacement of an art form of Bengal at the grassroot level.

"The scope of the book is comprehensive. It presents an in-depth survey of the styles of different kinds of folk paintings of Bengal and their techniques including raw materials used. Thematic content of the paintings and their relevance to contemporary society, their interrelationship with the mass media and the changing socio cultural melieu to which the artists belonged have been studied from a sociological point of view. The book also outlines the reasons for gradual decay of the art form and the revival movements as also recent case histories of identical attempts with a sense of direction to such efforts.

"Folk paintings of Bengal is profusely illustrated and annotated with canonical and non-canonical texts, reports, surveys, interviews etc. Descriptive analysis of the plates, interviews with the artist-craftsmen and glossary are other special features of this book." (jacket)

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