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Here, art is a way of life
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Home to many artists of repute and award winners, Raghurajpur has become the art hub of Orissa.
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Patta Chitra has brought Raghurajpur into national and international prominence.
GURU KELUCHARAN'S village Raghurajpur on the banks of river Bhargavi is only a few kilometres away from Puri. It strikes you as an ordinary village.But this village is anything but ordinary. Here, in this village, everyone is an artist practising one or more of nine art forms — `Patta chitra', `Matha chitra' (painting on tussar silk fabric), `Talapatra chitra' (painting on palm leaf), wood carving, stone sculpture, paper masks, cow dung toys, coconut painting and `ganjapa' playing cards. But it is definitely `patta chitra' that has brought Raghurajpur into national and international prominence. `Patta chitra' or `Patta' painting refers to a pictorial depiction of various deities and myths on `patta', an indigenously-prepared canvas made of old cotton clothing. The brushes are homemade from mouse hair and the colours are a few basic ones prepared from vegetable or mineral extracts. In 2002, Ragurajpur was notified by the Centre as one of the 16 heritage villages in India and Rs. 1 crore was allocated for its development.
A legend's birthplace
Guru Maguni Charan Das, the Gotipua guru who was awarded the Padma Shri recently belongs to the same village. Founder of Dasabhuja Gotipua Nruyta Parishad, he has been engaged in promotion of the dance form for the last 65 years. Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra had got Padma Shri (1975), Padma Bhushan (1988) and Padma Vibhushan (2000).
Seven artisans of the village have so far won the President's awards for their excellence in `patta' painting and palm leaf painting. About 16 km away from Puri, Raghurajpur is home to nearly 100 traditional artisan families, most of them Chitrakara families dedicated to Lord Jagannath and engaged in painting walls and palm leaf with religious motifs.
The first to win President's award was Jagannath Mohapatra in 1965. Thereafter, Benudhar Mohapatra, Bhagabat Moharana, Bhikari Maharana and Dinabandhu Moharana followed in his footsteps with Banamali Moharana and Dinabandhu Mohapatra winning it for palm leaf painting and `Ganjapa'.
It is believed that a few centuries ago, the king of Puri had given this village to the artists to settle.
Creative conceptions
THE WEEK-LONG art exhibition mounted at Modern Art Gallery had on display the creative conceptions of four young artists — Saroj, Saubhagya, Prasanna and Pradosh. The art works on display included paintings and photographs too. Saroj's digital pictures of different flowers welcomed the viewers into the gallery. The tight frames showing flowers in bloom had a soothing appeal for the viewers. But, among the paintings, what stood out were the watercolour landscapes of Pradosh. Brushed in subdued colours the paintings mostly showing seaside scenes, desert vignettes and ships had an evocative quality about them.
Saubhagya Ranjan's paintings had humanoids in different positions — statements of relationship and society at present. Prasanna experimented with geometrical figures and circles too, and though his colour scheme did not draw the attention, the neat patterns underscored his expert hand.
Individually, the works gave vent to the artist's vision but collectively they were set against each other in their creative conceptions.
BIBHUTI MISHRA
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Entertainment
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