Raghurajpur

Coordinates: 19°53′08″N 85°49′35″E / 19.88556°N 85.82639°E / 19.88556; 85.82639
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Raghurajpur is a heritage crafts village in

Odissi. It is also known as the birthplace of the Odissi exponents Padma Vibhushan Guru and Kelucharan Mohapatra and the Gotipua dancer Padma Shri Guru Maguni Charan Das. It is also the birthplace of Shilp Guru Dr. Jagannath Mahapatra, who is a prominent Pattachitra artist and has made a huge contribution to the development of Pattachitra art and Raghurajpur village. Apart from that, the village is also home to crafts like Tussar painting, palm leaf engraving, stone carving, wood carving, cow-dung toys, papier-mache toys, and masks.[1][2][3]

Entrance of Raghurajpur
Paintings of Jagannath on betel nuts in Raghurajpur
An artist at Raghurajpur demonstrates palm leaf etching

In 2000, after a two-year research and documentation project by

INTACH, the village was chosen to be developed as Odisha's first heritage village and developed as a heritage crafts village; soon the village had an interpretation centre, commissioned artwork on the walls of the artists' homes and a rest house.[4][2][5]

It also has the distinction of being the only place where the traditional decoration called Patas is made, used under the throne of Lord

Jagannath Temple.[6][7]

Government and other stakeholders use online campaigns to promote Pattachitra art of Raghurajpur village.[8]

Overview

Situated amidst groves of coconut, palm, mango and jack fruit, the main village has two streets with over 120 houses, most decorated with mural paintings, where the painters reside and practice their pattachitra craft, besides many other that practices throughout the village, including traditional masks, stone idols, papier mache, sculptures, wooden toys.

Gouranga
.

Around, 2000 it was developed as a heritage village by

INTACH, and soon became a major rural tourist destination of the state, drawing tourist, both domestic and foreign to the village.[10] Villagers were also trained to provide heritage walks to the visitors by the organisation, and has since become a template for heritage tourism in the region.[11]

Today it is also the venue of the annual Basant Utsav – Parampara Raghurajpur (Spring Festival), which was first organised in 1993 under the aegis of State Tourism Department and Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre, Kolkata, held in the month of February/March and an important tourist draw.[12]

Pattachitra

Patta Chitra
painting

The

Sambalpuri Saree depicting Mathura Vijay, Raslila and Ayodhya Vijay owe their origin to ‘Raghurajpur Pattachitra paintings’.[13]

Location

It is situated 14 km away from Hindu pilgrimage town of Puri, on the southern banks of river Bhargabi (Bhargavi). Visitors from Puri take the Bhubaneswar road, near Chandanpur, on NH-316, and upon reaching the Chandanpur Bazaar, they can take a right turn to reach Raghurajpur. The village is then around 1.5 km from Chandanpur.[1][14]

This village also finds mention in The Jengaburu Curse series of SonyLIV.

Notes

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Raghurajpur.
  1. ^ a b c Bindloss, p. 648
  2. ^ a b "A visitors' delight". Frontline. Vol. 19, no. 24. 6 December 2002. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  3. ^ § Bu, Bundgaard. p. 65
  4. ^ Datta, Rangan (18 April 2022). "Raghurajpur: The Odisha village of patachitra painters". The Telegraph. My Kolkata. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  5. ^ "HERITAGE: Mural village". Frontline. Vol. 25, no. 16. 15 August 2008. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. ^ Rajhurajpur – pattachitra
  7. CNN-IBN. 15 July 2007. Archived from the original
    on 6 October 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
  8. ^ "A Twitter campaign lifts Pattachitra artists out of crisis in Odisha". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  9. ^ Rajhurajpur mapsofindia.
  10. ^ INTACH to develop village in Ganjam district The Hindu, 11 October 2007.
  11. ^ Heritage Guide training UNESCO, Bangkok.Feb 2007. p. 6-5
  12. ^ "Raghurajpur gears up for Vasant Utsav". The Hindu. 10 March 2007. Archived from the original on 12 March 2007.
  13. The Tribune
    . 14 April 2002.
  14. ^ Raghurajpur wikimapia.

References

External links

19°53′08″N 85°49′35″E / 19.88556°N 85.82639°E / 19.88556; 85.82639

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