Shiva - Nritya Lal Datta

A traditional Bat-tala woodblock print from late nineteenth-century Kolkata, depicting the deity Shiva with hand-applied colour.

This woodblock print by Nritya Lal Datta depicts the Hindu deity Shiva in a multi-headed form, seated in a meditative posture. Produced in the late nineteenth century, the work belongs to the Bat-tala school of printmaking, which flourished in the Chitpur district of Kolkata. These prints were mass-produced for a growing urban audience, often blending traditional religious iconography with the stylistic conventions of contemporary lithography and wood engraving.

The composition is structured within a formal architectural frame, typical of the period. Shiva is shown with multiple heads and arms, holding a tanpura and a horn, which suggests a musical or devotional context. The artist employs a bold, graphic line quality, characteristic of the woodblock medium, where the carving process dictates the economy of form. The application of colour is selective and hand-applied, using a limited palette of red and black to draw attention to specific attributes and decorative elements of the deity's attire.

At the base of the image, a small animal figure is depicted, providing a grounding element to the otherwise symmetrical and frontal arrangement of the central figure. The print reflects the intersection of folk art traditions and the commercial print culture of colonial India. It captures a specific moment in the history of Indian visual culture, where religious imagery was adapted for wider distribution through affordable print media. The work remains a clear example of the Bat-tala aesthetic, prioritising clarity of form and symbolic representation over naturalistic depth or perspective.