Orissa Review * December - 2005

Raghurajpur Crafts Village Extraordinary

Raghurajpur, a small village in district, N.H.No.203 connecting Puri and , occupies a unique place in the cultural map of two important tourist destinations of the country. . The village is inhabited by artisans producing From Chandanpur one has to take a cycle- sheer poetry on rickshaw or walk on pieces of treated a 1.3 km scenic road cloth, dried palm leaf to reach this village. or paper. One may also hire a Situated on the taxi either from Puri or southern bank of river from Bhubaneswar to Bhargavi and reach the village. surrounded by This coconut- coconut, palm, palm shaded village is mango, jackfruit quite different from groves and other other villages of the tropical trees, State. It has its own Raghurajpur has an identity. What is idyllic setting. A unusual is the number number of betel vines dot the nearby paddy fields. of outsiders including foreigners visiting the village The village runs from east to west with houses round the year. These people don't come here to arranged in two neat rows, facing each other. At see a typical Orissan village from close quarters the centre, runs a line of small temples and the but to see and enjoy the rich traditions of Orissan lone Bhagabat Tungi, the community meeting place arts and crafts at one place. The village has a of the villagers. The temples are dedicated to the community of artisans, who produce different lords, Radha Mohan, Gopinath, Raghunath, varieties of handicrafts items such as patta Laxminarayan, Gouranga, and to the village paintings, palm leaf engravings, stone carvings, goddess, Bhuasuni. papier mache toys and masks, wood carvings, To reach Raghurajpur one has to get down wooden toys, cow-dung toys and tusser paintings. at Chandanpur bus stop, which is about 10 km Perhaps nowhere else in India one finds such a from Puri and 50 km from Bhubaneswar on congregation of so many arts at one place. This is

68 Orissa Review * December - 2005 also the only village in India, where each family is engaged in one craft or another. There are has 103 households having 311 artisans in the village. Some of them are winners of National Awards. One comes across the best tradition of Orissan paintings and some of the finest pieces of work in this village. Types of Pata-painting (a) Sri Pati. (b) Patachitra based on different episodes of the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagavat and other puranas and kavyas. (c) Patachitra on Orissan folklore. (d) Patachitra on the bratas and modes of worship. (e) Patachitra on different animals and birds. (f) Erotic patachitras. Sri Jagannath Pati (a) Gajanan Vesa (Elephant-faced Jagannath) (k) Padma Vesa (The lotus dress) (b) Suna Vesa (Dressed in gold ornaments) (l) Gaja Udharana Vesa (Dressed as the rescuer of Elephant) (c) Bana Bhoji Vesa (Picnic dress) The tradition of pata painting in Orissa is (d) Kaliya Dalan Vesa (Jagannath mounting on very old. There are several centres of this art : the head of the snake, Kaliya) Puri, Parlakhemundi, Champamal (Sonepur), (e) Krishna Balaram Vesa (Dress of Krishna Athgarh and Dinabandhupur (Dhenkanal). and Balaram) Usually, the lane in which these painters or (f) Raja Vesa (Royal attire). chitrakaras live is called Chitrakar Sahi. Although (g) Sri Radha Damodar Vesa (The dress of there are several centres of pata paintings in Radha and Krishna) Orissa, it is Raghurajpur, which is famous for this unique art. (h) Thia Kia Vesa (Decoration with Keya flowers) Chitrakaras are involved with the ritual performed in the temple of Lord Jagannatha on (i) Banka-Chuda Vesa (The decoration with the occasion of Snana Purnima in the lunar month a twisted hair-do) of Jyestha (May-June). During the period of (j) Raj Rajeswara Vesa (Dressed as the anasara, the fortnight following the fullmoon day, Supreme Lord) three patis painted by chitrakaras are placed

69 Orissa Review * December - 2005 on the sighasana inside the main temple. The of Rural Tourism. This village has been developed chitrakaras are also called to execute colourful as a model for rural tourism in India. INTACH paintings on the three chariots for the Car Festival. has prepared the Project Report for this village, Apart from taking part in the rituals, they also which has been implemented meticulously. Basic produce paintings which they sell at Bedha Mahal tourist amenities such as road, drinking water, sanitation, interpretation centre, rest house, etc. inside the temple premises and Chakada Mahal would come up soon. outside the main gate. However, with the entry of middle man to this business the chitrakaras Government of Orissa have taken initiatives suffered. At the beginning of the 20th century their to develop the roads from Chandanpur and fortunes dwindled. The art received a new lease Kathapola to Raghurajpur. To make Raghurajpur a heritage village, various Departments of of life in the mid-century. Ileana Citaristi, an Italian Government of Orissa are converging their lady who has done extensive research on Orissan resources. art and culture, observes, "By the late fifties only a few old men among the 90- odd chitrakara Once the Rural Tourism Project is families of Raghurajpur were still painting, whereas completed, Raghurajpur will come in the National all the youths had deserted the profession; it was Travel Circuit of the Government of India. only around the year 1953 that, with the References : intervention of an American lady, Mrs Halina 1 . "A Destination in the Making." Orissa Review, Zealey, a new future opened up and the artists September 2002. once again took out their brushes and colours." 2. Citaristi, Eleana. The making of a Guru : Kelu Besides producing these unique works of Charan Mohapatra, His Life and Times (Delhi: art, this village has a living tradition of performing Manohar 2001). art known as , the earlier form of . 3. Mohanty, B. Pata-Paintings of Orissa, New A worthy son of Orissa, Guru Kelu Charan Delhi : Publications Division, Government of Mohapatra, an exponent of Odissi dance, was India, 1984. born in this village and had his early trainings in Gotipua tradition here. Now a Gotipua Gurukul, namely Maa Dasabhuja Gotipua Odissi Dance Acknowledgement : School has been established here under the P.K. Jena, Tourism Department, Orissa, Bhubaneswar. guidance of Guru Maguni Charan Das. The trainees of this school present their performances in different cultural events, in India and abroad. INTACH selected this village to revive the ancient wall paintings of Orissa. The work has already been completed and now the village looks like a living museum of paintings. To give this village its rightful place both in the cultural and tourist maps of the country, Orissa Tourism and Ministry of Tourism, Government of India have identified this village for development

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