The Jadu Patuas (or ‘Magic Painters’) were originally members of a small West Bengal community earning their livelihood wandering among the villages of the tribal Santal people, showing their painted scrolls and chanting the stories they depict. The Santals originally inhabited the high plateau of the Rajmahal Hills but subsequently moved in part to the plains below the hills. They followed a village religion in which local deities and beliefs about life and death were far more important than the great gods of Hinduism and Brahminical teachings.

The main subject matter of their work is divided into seven themes corresponding to Santal beliefs: Life in Death’s Kingdom, the Creation Story, the Santal Festival of Bahajataras, Dancing Festivals, Personification of the Santal Clans, the Tiger god, while Krishna and the milkmaids also make an appearance. The artists employ a clear linear style for depicting their highly stylised human figures as well as simple diagrammatic forms for landscape elements, and are very sparing in the use of colour. The scrolls are divided into panels vertically and the older ones in museum collections are now mostly cut up and mounted, so that the appearance of a group of older paintings still in scroll format is rare. Like most folk arts of India, the old tradition has been subverted into producing handicrafts for tourists, and modern Jadupatuas are garishly colored.