Untitled

A bachelor himself, Chittaprosad found himself drawn towards children and their trials and tribulations, especially when it came to putting them to work in cities to eke out a living for themselves or their elders. In this woodcut, though, the working children are not being made to undergo hard labour. Even though the tasks assigned to them—washing clothes, fetching water, feeding the farm animals—are beyond their age, they seem to be going about them with dignity. That these are tasks expected of them in rural society the artist seems to suggest—the chicks and birds in the foreground and background adding a touch of the ‘natural’ to their world.