Stories from Raghurajpur

A lazy quaint village Raghurajpur in Odisha, evokes our creative thirst to innumerable handmade assets. This village declared heritage village by UNESCO for its handicraft restoration. Undoubtedly Raghurajpur has a treasure of handicrafts to explore and discover. From paper machier to Patachitra, from Wood craft to wall painting, this village holds wonder to the outer world.
Tucked in a discreet corner from Bhubaneswar to Puri, Raghurajpur is eternal handicrafts identity.
Each of the village houses are ornate with beautiful wall paintings depicting mythological figurines. This village has many national master craftsmen awardee who are involved in the age old process of patachitra. The Oriya patachitra are more ornate and colorful, depicts mythical figures of Gods and Goddesses. The house walls, doors are hand painted with these patachitra paintings.

Papier mache is also one of the well known hand crafted products of this village. Each village house holds are known to be involved in this craft. They make interesting by-products like birds, puppets, toys, coasters and masks.

Taal pata patachitra is an art work wherein dried palm leaves are used as canvas to which colorful or back and white paintings are done by etching the surface and filling it with natural colors or kajal.

The villagers are also involved in making golden grass products by using many techniques.
This village is also the birth place of world renowned dancer Kelucharan Mahapatra.
Over here we can see new products take shape using traditional technique combined with very simple and naturally found materials.

The Majestic Manipur

The Majestic Manipur

Through Moirang roads, I discovered Manipur in a new dimension. INA or Indian National Army led by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose hoisted the Indian flag in 1944 much before Indian Independence.

The Acknowledgement 

Netaji is a much celebrated figure in this land. Each year this day is marked with respect and glory in Manipur.

Apart from this, the place has many things to offer. One major thing is the colorful textiles of Manipur. The unique textiles are often woven by Manipuri females in basic handloom using colorful yarns bringing out the enticing beauty of these textiles.

I would now talk about three of my favorite  textiles of Manipur which till date mesmerizes me with its wonderful color and artistic skills. First is the Sangai motif found in the textiles of Manipur, Second is the Moirangphi textile and third the most astonishing one is the use of orchids motifs from  the state Manipur 

Sangai: Sangai is the state animal of Manipur. This deer is an endangered and rare species and found in Manipur in their natural habitat. The Sangai deer is often seen as a textile motif in various fabrics of Manipur. The fighting spirit of the dancing deer are captured in its true sense in the jamdani motifs of Manipur. The wildness is tamed in the framed form of warp and weft of Manipuri textile. The majestic forms of the Sangai deer motifs not only praise the tribes’ gratitude towards nature but also tells tales of legend and bravery taking shape in textile art.

The Sangai Deer in the making

The dancing deer come alive

The Temple Motif:
In my several visits to this beautiful state of North East of India, I have come across this Moirangphi textiles. In Meitei language (the local language of Manipur) Phi is a term for fabrics or a piece of fabric. And these phis woven in the place in Moirang is called as Moirangphi. The Moirangphis are used in several ways. Either as a sarong or a phanek which is wrapped around their lower body or as a saree. This particular piece has delicate temples running throughout the edges of the fabrics. These temples resembles the temple structure which is conical in feature. The Moirangphi with temple motifs comes in soft pastel colors and have air like pristine texture. The fabric itself makes it look pious and breezy which shows the extreme devotion of the women weavers who have expressed their prayer through this textile.

The making of temple motif and jamdani florals.

The Temple Motif 

The land of Orchids: The state of Manipur is known for its flora and fauna. The state has designated land for orchid plants and has 220 species pf orchids. The beautiful orchids are exported to Far East Asia from Manipur. The motifs of orchids are given life on the transparent fabrics through jamdani or extra weft technique added with imaginations of weavers. The supple and light fabrics are rendered through weave and color shading such a way that it makes the floral motifs three dimensional and lively. Due to high skill involved to do this particular motif, very few women weavers are left whose nimble fingers weave this magic. The rendering of colors are so important to bring life to a flat motif, the visual skill is also required for the magic to happen. Subtle pastel colors are often seen used for this motifs. As I have already mentioned that this jamdani orchid motifs require high skill of not only of hands but vision also, there is a dwindling number of weavers who are efficient enough to weave.

The hands that wove these impeccable orchids: Ms. Saya Devi Wangkhei

 The journey of Manipur is never complete with the delectable food trail through the streets of Imphal. So one can hit the small shanties in Polo Ground for ethnic and local taste. Spoiler alert, be prepared for pungent smell and non veg food. But these taste will linger in your senses and believe me the cravings grow more. One can venture the evenings strolling the streets of Imphal near the Kangla fort. Whenever hunger pangs hits you visit the nearby paan stores where you can find shrimp and peanut fries.

Ending here for the time being, Manipur has many folds to be unfolded. The journey has just begun. The tensed and peaceful days are yet to be explored.