Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam’s visit to Raghurajpur on Saturday has turned the spotlight on the heritage village, that was devastated by Cyclone Fani in 2019.
Raghurajpur, about 10 kilometer away from Puri, will bask in the VVIP glow for some time now with the visits of several dignitaries, including chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan and President Droupadi Murmu, scheduled for the next one month.
The village, with more than 600 artists practising various artforms, has recovered from the devastation that it had witnessed six years back during Cyclone Fani.
The Singapore President bought a Pattachitra, depicting Ramayan on palm leaves, worth ₹1.5 lakh. He bought another one on Lord Ganesha worth ₹50,000, along with a few other items. The total cost of the items bought by the President was around ₹2.06 lakh.
The artist, Dinabandhu Mohapatra, said that he was elated to have sold his Ramayan Pattachitra to the President. “I have spent nearly two-years preparing it,” said Dinabandhu, a winner of Shilipi Guru awardee on Pattachitra and palm leaf engraving.
Artist Prasanta Subudhi said: “Here, the money is not important. The President of Singapore is our customer. That is a matter of pride for us.”
Shanmugaratnam also praised the artisans and described “Odisha culture” as a “humble culture”.
The most significant part of this village is that each of its 160 houses has an artist.
“Most of us are pattachitra painters. We also make traditional masks, stone idols, sculptures and wooden toys,” said Santosh.
“This form of art goes back to 5th BC,” he said, adding that some of the village artisans have won national awards.
Artist Mitu Swain said: “Every day, nearly 100 to 200 tourists from different parts of the country and abroad visit the place to purchase artworks.”
Swain added: “To prepare a pattachitra, an artist takes months. A lot of pain and hard work is involved in making an art.”
The pattachitra paintings are made on a piece of cloth known as Patta or a dried palm leaf, which is first painted with a mixture of chalk and gum. Over the prepared surface, colorful and intricate pictures of various gods and mythological scenes are drawn along with some ornamentation of flowers, trees and animals.
The paintings on sarees, especially the Sambalpuri sarees depicting Mathura Vijay, Raslila and Ayodhya Vijay, owe their origin to Raghurajpur Pattachitra paintings.