While on a Sindhudurg sojourn, drawn to the mountainous beauty and coastal allure of Bhogave beach, a fortunate detour off the Mumbai-Goa highway led me to the Thakar Adivasi Kala Angan Museum and Art Gallery, the only Chitrakathi museum in the world. Located in Pinguli village and set amid lush palm and banana plantations, the museum complex offers an in-depth exploration of the underappreciated Chitrakathi art form and provides a fascinating glimpse into the world of Thakar tribal art. “The Thakars lived in the jungle without education or clothes, surviving on rice and vegetables.
For entertainment, they began telling stories from the Ramayana and Mahabharata, drawing them on peepal leaves. They used the leaves to illustrate characters like Adi-Manav because they didn’t know what Indrajit, Krishna, or Bheem looked like. Perhaps another person made wooden puppets, and a third created shadow puppets from sheepskin.
They didn’t write anything down, but the oral tradition and visual storytelling flourished,” said Parshuram Atmaram Gangavane (68), founder of the museum. Housed in his family’s former cowshed, the museum includes two galleries that display ancient Chitrakatha paintings, puppets, and musical instruments and agricultural and fishing tools used by the tribal Thakar community. Gangavane’s sons, Chetan (35) and Eknath (37), who now assist him, represent the tenth generation in the family’s Chitrakathi business.
“My father started this museum on May 3, 2.