Chitrakar (Devanagari: चित्रकार) is a caste within the Newar community of the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal. The Newar caste system is divided according to profession. Accordingly, Chitrakars were painters and mask makers.[1]
In Nepal Bhasa (the language of the Newar community), this caste is called "pun" (पुं).[2] or "puna".[3]
The literal translation of the word "chitrakar" from Sanskrit is ‘image maker’, where "chitrá" in Sanskrit means ‘an image‘’, and "kara" ‘the maker’.[4]
The Pun or Chitrakar paint paubhas used in prayer rooms and murals in temples, make masks used for ritual dances, paintings on ceramics and woodblock prints used during festivals.[5] The craft is handed down from father to son according to the division of labour laid down from ancient times. Women generally play a secondary role in the artistic ventures.
Ethnically, Chitrakars like other Newar communities are of diverse origin including various Indo-Aryan and Tibeto-Burman tribes. So, one may infer that Chitrakars are heterogeneous groups rather that a kin or ethnically homogeneous group. Although the caste system is eroding in Kathmandu, there are still some Pun/Chitrakar families following their traditional role as artists. The Puns/Chitrakars practice both Buddhism and Hinduism with an emphasis on Tantrism.
In the French scholar Gerard Toffin's work on the painter Chitrakars, he focuses on their two main guthis (See Guthi and Desla Guthi), kinship and marriage patterns and, of course, their art, which sometimes functions as medicine. Toffin describes how they treat Jwanakai, which is thought to be caused by snakes, by painting two lions on the sides of the affected area.
The word "Pun" seems to have been derived from Pali/Sanskrit word "puantra"/"patta" or "scrolls/fabric". The religious painting called "Paubhas" is also a derivative of the "Puantra/Patta". These paintings are normally done over fabric/cotton gessoed with animal glue and clay.