Post News Network
Raghurajpur, April 5: Guru Kelucharan Mahapatra, doyen of Odishi dance was born in this village. 10 kilometres from Puri, this village is famous for its art and craft. On average, three members of each household of this village are engaged in doing some kind of craft, be it patta paintings, palm leaf engravings, stone carvings, paper made toys and masks, wooden carvings, wooden toys or tasser paintings. The villagers of this village, Raghurajpur, are proud of their heritage and craftsmanship. However, they are, of late finding it difficult to make their both ends meet and desperately are looking forward to government support and implementation of the already announced government schemes.
This pride becomes palpable when the 58-year-old Maguni Mahapatra, who has been making pattacitra paintings since 1971 and refuses to shift to any other profitable business in spite of the hardships he is facing while following his passion for and love of the traditional art form of the state, speaks. “We put a lot of effort to bring out a single work of pattachitra, which dates back to the 5th Century BC. It takes around three to four months of hard work to produce the painting. We love to make these paintings as they are very close to us but we seldom get the opportunity to sell it at showrooms in nearby cities as they hardly value our work and effort. We work and sell our products from home. Artists from the village urgently need a gallery or a museum in the village where they can keep their work for sale,” says Mahapatra
Another artist, who makes toys out of waste newspapers, Prakash Mahapatra said, “We often take our work to art exhibitions organised at different metro cities. We get a good response and price compared to what we get in our own state. Lack of proper support often dampens our spirit. We have heard that the government has announced some schemes and funds for our village. Let’s see how much it can transform our lives.”
Like Maguni and Prakash there are several artists in this village who have pinned their hopes on the central and state government to bring an end to their woes. Raghurajpur has recently received a sanction of `25crore from both the state government and the Centre so that this ‘heritage’ village could be transformed into a famous tourist destination. Though the state tourism department has already declared it as a heritage village and has made it a part of its rural tourism development project yet hardly any visible changes could be spotted in the village. The village still depends on the individual efforts of the artists to survive.
The busy narrow market street, leading tourists from Chandanpur to the village, still experiences regular traffic jams. No proper public toilet and drinking water facility add to the woes of the visitors. The lack of a proper information centre too confuses the tourists on how to approach the artists for specific work.
Villagers in Raghurajpur, undeterred by the government apathy, have turned their small houses into manufacturing-cum-selling centres. “I make some modern decorative household items, such as decorated flower vases, pen stands, bangles and other items, out of waste materials like thrown away bottles, coconut shells, etc. I sell my products from my home as there is no proper common gallery in the area,” said 45-year-old Janani Swain.
In the meanwhile, buoyed by the response they get from the visitors, many of whom turn out to be their customers later, the villagers are soldering on down their passion path. “Many people – both local and international – visit our village every day. They really appreciate our work as they see firsthand how much labour we put into our work. Many visitors end up buying our products. They not only pay us well, but also appreciate our efforts and work,” says 50-year-old Chandrashekhar Swain, a sculptor from the village. And this ‘generous’ price that they get from their visitors today makes them survive for the tomorrow.
