Pattachitra Art first originated in Odisha more than 3000 years ago. The Oriya artist started painting ‘Chitra’ on a ‘Patta’ (Cloth) as a religious offering in the temple of Lord Jagannath and his sibling brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra. The paintings are inspired by this revered deity of Orissa.

Picture of Lord Jagannath with brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra

     These paintings are vibrant, colorful, and enchanting to the eyes. Apart from the revered deities, various stories inspired by Indian mythological stories like Ramayana and Mahabharata are depicted intricately in every nook and corner of the Canvas in the Mandala formations 

      The reason I have chosen this topic of art and culture today is not any random whim, but this came out as an unplanned blog as a result of my recent visit to the first of its kind artistic heritage village of Odisha called ‘Raghurajpur’ during my long road trip.

    Raghurajpur heritage village is situated a half-hour drive away from Puri. This artistic village was the first chosen to be developed as the state’s very first heritage village in 2000. This village consists of only 150 homes belonging to all artist families.

    This colorful vibrant village is decorated with wall murals on every house by the artisans like an open-air museum.

   We chose to visit Artisan Alok Rajan Sahu’s village to explore. He patiently explained to us all the intricacies that go into painting.

   These paintings and handicrafts are entirely made from natural sources like coconut, palm leaves, charcoal color, conch shell powder, etc. The canvas or patta is prepared by binding two layers of cotton with a gum made of the powdered conch shell and tamarind seeds. Once the clothes are dried it’s ready to use.

    Pattachitra is a disciplined art form. As a part of the tradition, it is a must to complete the floral borders of the painting first. Depending on the size and detailing involved each painting can take up to months to complete. The rates are also decided accordingly.

    Alok was generous enough to show us his ancestral paintings which were not for sale.

     I was awestruck to see these enchanting paintings made on palm leaves with immense patience and focus. The intricacies were mind-blowing displaying superhuman capabilities and the magic of one’s hand to this level of excellence. If you zoom the above krishna and Radha painting you will find the entire krishna story depicted on his and radha’s body. Besides are the zoomed version of the paintings 

Above it one the most intricately detailed painting of life of buddha. The first picture is whole where as the pictures besides it are clicked from close ,of the same painting which depicts life story of buddha

    These palm leaves are left to become hard. Then they are sewn together to make a canvas structure. These panels are foldable. Once the images are engraved through the veins of the leaves by an iron stylus the incision is filled with black color.

Similar art on palm leaves with Panchamukhi Ganesha

    This skilled craftmanship is mastered for years by these “Chitrakars” and their families. Though this art form is traditionally done by men, this art form is now being taken up by young girls and women too.

New transition of painting on a tassar silk

One more attractive piece of mythological depiction spotted in the shop.

These traditionally made rich handicrafts and art are the only visually manifested magic pieces of mythologies by the artisans here forwarded from generations. Preserving and cherishing these antique pieces is the responsibility of each and every citizen. This artistic excellence magnifies our country’s rich culture and heritage rooted in spiritual knowledge and wisdom.

A visit to such village was a feeling of pride to this artistic soul.