Two or three years ago a documentary film on Raghurajpur was aired on Discovery channel which showed about the art and the lifestyle of the artisans living there. Then I decided that if possible someday surely I would visit that place. I got that chance this year.
Raghurajpur is a small village famously known as heritage crafts village in Puri district. The place is mainly famous for the Pattachitra(one kind of painting), Talapatrachitra or palm leaf engraving, Gotipua dance form and another so many kinds of artwork. The place is situated at a distance of merely 25 km away from Puri. It took half n hour to reach that place by auto. All the way we traveled from Puri to Raghurajpur, the roads were clean and tidy. There were many small villages with decorated houses we crossed on our way. I felt amazed that still there were lots of houses built on soil and hay on the roadside. But if I am not wrong, actually the road was going through the villages, not the villages were on the roadside. We never saw any big commercial building or any big construction on our journey. Before entering Raghurajpur we crossed a small bazaar. And finally, after a journey of half n hour, we reached our destination. When we stopped at the entrance of the village it felt like we were disturbing the atmosphere by the sound of the auto because the place was so quiet that we were hearing the sound of our breath. Surrounded by palm, coconut, and jack fruit trees the place was so tranquil that the silence echoes in the air. At the entrance, there is a big pylon depicting the details of the village and their work. I was surprised to see that among the 140 families two were national awardee, two are the Padma awardee and other state-level awardees. There was a temple between the two main streets of the village and identical houses are like stacked in a row on both sides of the streets. Every house is like an art museum. Walls of every house is beautifully decorated with murals, paintings of deities and demons with bold use of colors. While we were walking through the streets, several artists invited us to visit their house and to see their work. We entered the first house on the left side of the temple and amazed by their work. They never pressurize you to take their items, only they insist to watch their work. If you don’t want to buy anything they never insist you and that thing surprised me a lot. While we were inside the house other artists were waiting outside to take us to their home. We purchased two betel nuts that can be hanged on the door painted beautifully with the face of Lord Jagannath. Then we entered another house of an artist who was waiting outside. We were surprised by seeing their creativity.
Their main work is based on the “Pattachitra” which means art(Chitra) on cloth(Patta). They briefed on the procedure of creating a “Pattachitra” to us. The strip of cotton cloth is used as a canvas after joining three such strips with gums made by tamarind seeds and other natural things. After getting dried they can use that piece of cloth for their art. Whatever they use in the painting procedure, most of them are natural. Colors are made from vegetable dyes and minerals. For painting pattachitras, the brush they use comes from the hair of mouse or buffalo. They use all the household materials which cannot be used anymore. Instead of thrashing them in the garbage they recycle them in a creative way to create a masterpiece. We never imagined that we would see masks, toys, and other showpieces made out of cow dung and papers and they are very lightweight also.
The paintings by palm leaf engraving and on clothes i.e pattachitras are really a treat to eyes. The way they make a painting by palm leaf engraving with utmost perfection is undoubtedly a commendable job. Drawing on the palm leaves with the help of a needle or iron stylus needs perfection and practice. They are also called Talapatrachitras(Tala=Palm, Patra=leaf, Chitra=painting). The stories from the Ramayana and Mahabharata can be found in the zigzag folds of yellow-green palm leaves finely tied together with threads.
We purchased some showpieces made out of cow dung, betel nut. Also bought some Pattachitras and one Talapatrachitra. We were delighted by their friendly and generous reception. Every member of each family is connected with these arts.
It was a great pleasure to visit that place and we are very glad that we had visited Raghurajpur.
Audio Credit: “Arms_of_Heaven” by Akash Gandhi from Youtube Audio Library
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