Photos

On Bhubaneswar Puri road, 10 Kms. from Puri and 50 Kms. from Bhubaneswar, one small town Chandrapur is there, from there 1.3 km. away a small village Raghurajpur in Puri district occupies a unique place in the cultural map of India. The village is inhabited by artisans producing sheer poetry on pieces of treated cloth, dried palm leaf or paper. Situated on the southern bank of river Bhargavi, Raghurajpur has an idyllic setting. A number of betel vines dot the nearby paddy fields. The village runs from east to west with nearly 108 house arranged in two neat rows, facing each other.

This coconut-palm shaded village is quite different from other villages of the State. It has its own identity. What is unusual is the number of outsiders including foreigners visiting the village round the year. These people don’t come here to see a typical Orissan village from close quarters, but to see and enjoy the rich traditions of Orissan arts and crafts at one place. The village has a community of artisans, who produce different varieties of handicrafts items such as patta paintings, palm leaf engravings, stone carvings, papier mache toys and masks, wood carvings, wooden toys, cow-dung toys and tusser paintings. To color the paintings all the artisans of the village uses the natural colours, so that they shine for centuries.

Perhaps nowhere else in India one finds such a congregation of so many arts at one place. This is also the only village in India, where each family is engaged in one craft or another. There are more then 300 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.

During my visit to Raghurajpur, I have taken this photo of working girls in their house on paper a Pattachita. I hope, you will like it.