Glimpses of the craft technologies dating back over several thousand years can be seen from the shop windows of Bhubaneswar. The tie and dye or ikat technique of Orissa is, for instance, an ancient intricate process of dyeing yarn in segments to produce bold, beautiful patterns on the loom while weaving.
Visiting Orissa's town and cities fetces you an entire range of arts and crafts in the market places and side corners.The helping hand lent by Co-operative societies have played an important role in preserving the rich craft heritage of the State.
Weaving Craft
The royal Mauryan textile workshops that were established more than 2000 years ago employed spinners, weavers and embroiderers. In the course of time, temple towns such as Bhubaneswar became home for many weaving communities. Orissa is an important part of the great weaving belt that stretches through Assam and other North-Eastern states like West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. Today, there are more than 3 lakh handloom weavers in Orissa producing a rich range of textures. Eloquent and realistic, the fabrics (a variety of silks, tussar, and cotton) and designs (tribal, traditional, and modern) on display at Bhubaneswar have found a good export market. The hosting of textile exhibitions and handloom expositions is an annual feature at Bhubaneswar.Tradition of Palm Leaf Writing
The ancient art of palm leaf writing still survives away from the shops and bazaars, in some friendly Oriyan household or in a temple or at an astrologer's place. Religious texts continue to be read out from palm leaf manuscripts rather than from printed books. Horoscopes, too, are traditionally written on palm leaves by professional horoscope makers known as 'nahakas'. Palm leaf was considered so sacred that even the invention of printing press could not reduce the writing of, important texts on the leaves instead of paper. The printing of New Year cards and wedding invitations on palm leaf is still popular in Orissa.Patachitra- The Chitrakar's Foray
Puri, a temple town on the sea shores not only mirrors some of Bhubaneswar's arts and crafts but has nurtured artistic ipressions that are uniquely its own. In the famous exquisitely carved Jagannath temple, an annual ritual has given birth to a treasured art form. Three paintings on specially treated cloth or patas are prepared by the temple painter and hung inside the sacred precincts of the temple. Originating as a ritual, patas developed over the years, as a distinct school of painting executed by the chitrakar (artist) community. Blood red, red ochre, lamp black, yellow, white and indigo blue sometimes offset each other. And sometimes blend to form patachitras in the skilled hands of talented chitrakars who follow in the footsteps of their forefathers.The word patachitra is derived from the Sanskrit word pata, which means a painted piece of cloth, a picture, a tablet or a plate. Chitra means painting or picture.Traces of folk and sophisticated art and craft characterise each finely executed patachitra.
Since old times, pilgrims to Puri have been carrying home the colorful patas or patachitras as precious mementos- just as they carry back Ganga jal (water from the holy Ganges) form Haridwar. The patas from Puri are sought after by tourists and art lovers from both India and abroad.
World of Appliqué
The artisans of Pipli, a village 40 km from Puri on the Bhubaneswar-Puri route, have perfected the art of applique. The specimens crafted by them now decorate homes in various parts of the world. Like patachitras, appliqué work in Orissa also originated as a temple art. Coloured cloth, after being cut and shaped into the forms of birds, animals, flowers, leaves, and other decorative motifs is stitched onto a cloth piece designed as a wall hanging, garden or beach umbrella, a lamp shade and other utility items.Carving An An Artform
Carving also is not an unfamilliar art to the artisan community of Orisssa. Over the centuries, Puri has preserved a superb tradition of carving, dating back to the Kalinga School. Craftsmen in Pathuriasahi at Puri use soft soapstone and hard kochila to carve replicas of temple sculptures.Skilled craftsmen carve utensils of rare beauty from the semi-grey stone of Khichinga at Mangalpur near Balasore .The craftsmen of Khandapara in Puri are masters at carving plates, bowls, jugs, flower vases and other decorative and functional articles from a creamy white wood.
Metal Craft
Puri is also home to a group of skilled craftsmen who specilalise in minute metal work.. Elsewhere in the state, in small places such as Behrampur and Belguntha (in Ganjam district), Tarva (Bolangir district), Chandanpur, Phulbani, and Kantilo are scattered some 15,000 families who specialise in producing a variety of brass and bell metal craft objects, which exhibit extraordinary craftsmanship.Cuttack is famous worldwide for the unimitable delicate craft of tarkashi or silver filigree work. . Silver is beaten and drawn into fine wires and foils, which are then joined together to form articles-generally ornaments-of stirring beauty. The snow glazed filigree work or tarkashi of Cuttack was once sought after by royal households and merchants from far and wide.