Babudhan Chitrakar is a 65 year old Jadopatia from Birbhum, who has lived in this Santal village since his birth. His ancestors, all jadopetias, are from Bihar, his grandfather, Radha Chitrakar having migrated with his young family to Saherdanga village in Birbhum when Babudhan’s father, Suresh was a young lad. 

Babudhan lives within a Santali community and fluently speaks the language. He is desperately poor, as were his ancestors, but is content with his lot. He tells us proudly that a relative, Jituram Chitrakar, had been invited to Japan many years ago and that his father and uncle, Mukunda Chitrakar had both displayed their art in Delhi.  

To this day, Babudhan roams only Santal villages, displaying patas on the themes of Karam Binti, the Santal Baha festival, Yama (Jom) the god of death, Jagannath, Kali and of course, the Chokkhudan pata when he receives news of a death in a Santal family.  The chokkhudan pata is a painting of a man or woman or child, representing the deceased, on a narrow scrap of paper. The pupils of the person are not painted - these are painted only at the end of the chokkhudan ritual. The word "chokkhudan" can be literally translated as the gift of the eyes.

Jadopetias believe that it is only when a Chokkhudan pata is presented to the bereaved family, that the departed soul attains peace.  For this role of a “guru” that he performs, he is gifted with some utensils, grain or a little money – whatever the family can afford. In earlier days, the Karam Binti pata would also be unrolled and performed. However, Santal families these days (in Birbhum, at least), urge the Jado baba to only perform the Chokkhudan ritual. After the ritual is completed, the painting is immersed in a nearby pond, lake or river. If the jadopatia accompanies the family for this ritual, he is usually presented with a bottle of local liquor. Babudhan exclaims that a jadopetia and his liquor (Hanhria) cannot be parted. 

Babudhan has not deviated from tradition and uses only three basic natural colours for his art. For brown/rust, he uses geru pathar, collected from river banks, green from sheem leaves and lamp black. He does not use sindoor.