About Raghurajpur
Raghurajpur is the heritage craft village in the Puri district of Odisha. This village is well known for its Pattachitra painters. This is the only village in the whole world where every villager is an artist. This place is also very famous as it is the birthplace of the finest Odissi guru Kelucharan Mohapatra.
Apart from all these this Raghurajpur is also famous for all types of paintings and crafts i.e: palm leaf. engravings, Tussar paintings, wood carvings, etc. This village is surrounded by groves of mango, coconut, and palm fruit. The village has 120 houses and these houses are decorated with beautiful wall paintings. This is where the artists practice their Pattachitra crafts, traditional masks, stone idols, wooden toys, and wood carvings, etc. You can find a variety of temples inside this village.
History
After two years of research in the year 2000, this village was chosen to be developed as Odisha’s first heritage and craft village. During the annual world-famous Ratha Yatra festival, the people of Rahgurajpur make the decoration called Patas, which are used under the throne of Lord Jagannath, and under three chariots.
In the year between 1940-1950, things were not so smooth, the Pattachitra artists were under lots of stress due to less income. And one time came when an American lady Ms. Helena Zealy took these Pattachitras to revive the art worldwide. She held one exhibition of Pattachitra in America and invited some best artists to see the Pattachitra from the land of Lord Jagannath. Later the paintings are appreciated by a lot of people. And finally, artists were sending Pattachitra shipment to America and gain a good amount of Income.
Now this village is the venue of the annual spring festival (Basant Utsav – Parampara Raghurajpur). The festival was first organized in 1993 under the State Tourism Department. This festival is celebrated in the month of February/March each year. The festival brings footfall of important tourists.
What is Pattachitra?
Pattachitra paintings are paintings made over a piece of cloth. This cloth is known as Patta. The process of making this painting is first paint with a mixture of chalk and gum. Then over this prepared surface, the artists paint colorful pictures of various Gods, Goddesses, and mythological scenes.
How can I go Raghurajpur?
Raghurajpur is located approximately 12Km from Puri, on the southern bank of river Bhargavi. People can find this place by taking the Bhubaneswar road, near Chandanpur, on 316. From Chandanpur Chawk take a right turn to reach Raghurajpur. The village is around 1.6 kilometers from Chandanpur Bazar.