The process of batik allows the imagination of the printer to come into play. Wax is used as a resist on those parts of the fabric which will be dyed a shade different from the base colour. The base is dyed a dark colour and the fabric is washed in boiling water and soap after […]
Saora folk painting is a type of mural painting native to tribal areas of Odisha. Their wall paintings are known as ‘italons’ or ‘ikons’. These ikons have variety of figures ranging from humans, horse, and elephant to aeroplane, cycle, sun, moon, etc. These paintings and figures are ritualistic in nature and have assoications with divinity […]
Clay roof tiles are used in most parts of the country, except where strong winds and cyclones, and/or snow, are frequent. Good quality tiles, appropriately overlapped, are waterproof in ordinary climatic situations. Clay tile production is an age-old cottage industry in several areas, specially rural zones, with potters making these tiles as part of their […]
Bell-metal ware – dominantly cooking ware, now supplemented with some decorative items – made in Odisha is the preserve of the kansari community, experts at this particular craft. Bishnu Sara Sahu, a mastercraftsman, describes the making of bell-metal cooking ware as a traditional craft, passed down through generations, focused within a particular set of villages […]
The village of Bomokoi in the Chikiti tehsil, near the Andhra border lends its name to the bomokoi sari. It is not a coastal village; yet the sea is very close. The Vaishanava Chikiti ruler patronised, along with theatrical dance and stilt opera, the Bomokoi sari. The bomokoi represents one of the few non-ikat weaving […]
Oryzasative or unhusked rice has been used for making chains, figures of deities, animal figures, flowers, garlands and other objects. This painfully laborious craft – practised in some parts of Balasore, Koraput, Bolangir and Kalahandi in Odisha – requires meticulous attention and minute detailing. The prices levied for the products are exceeding low and not […]
Literally the cloth picture(s)/painting(s) of Odisha, the patachitras, according to O.C. Gangoly, represent (in their original form) the ‘icon paintings of Puri…of the Cult of Jagannath’. In Gangoly’s survey of Odishan paintings, patachitras or pata paintings are defined clearly as a ‘school of painting’ linked intimately with the cult of Lord Jagannath (a prominent and […]
Sikki, the golden grass of Bihar, grows in the wet and marshy areas of Madhubani district. Meera Thakur, a skilled sikki artisan, and one who practises the craft as a profession, says that the grass is collected by harijans in savan (or the rainy season), and is dried by them before being sold. The grass […]
An important and traditional craft in Odisha, practiced in and around the town of Bhubaneswar, this involved the making of enormous appliqué canopies for Lord Jagannath, and his sister Subhadra and brother Balbhadra during the Rath Yatra. It involves the process of cutting coloured cloth into geometrical and figurative animal and floral motifs and stitching […]