Crises of the Artists of Raghurajpur!

Many of you are hearing about Raghurajpur for the first time.It is a heritage craft village in Odisa, Puri district. Where every villager is an artist and extremely talented in their field.I feel proud to see that such great artwork exist in india.

It is situated 14 km away from Hindu pilgrimage town of Puri, on the southern banks of river Bhargabi (Bhargavi).
Raghurajpur is also home to crafts like Tussar paintings, palm leaf engravings, stone and wood carvings, wooden, cowdung and papier mache toys, and masks.

Wooden carving in Raghurajpur

Pattchitra Paintings are the gems of these artists.The pattachitra paintings are made over 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, Goddesses, and mythological scenes with ornamentation of flowers, trees and animals are then painted. The paintings on Tussar saris, especially the Sambalpuri saarees depicting Mathura Vijay, Raslila and Ayodhya Vijay owe their origin to ‘Raghurajpur  Pattachitra paintings’.

But these beautiful artwork and hardwork of these poor artists are underestimated from the beginning.The Agents of these arts buy these paintings from these artists at very low cost, One painting they buy at five thousand to six thousand and sell them in market between fourteen to 30 thousand.
This video depicts the dark story of these artists.

 

 

 The artists and me strongly believe that, to improve their economic condition these artists should have their own website to sell their beautiful work online without any middlemen.

I wish that soon these artists will be getting what they deserve.