Straw Wonders

Rice straw painting of Holy Trinity

At the backyard of his house in Jirala village, Pradeepta Nayak carefully selects delicate rice straw strands, separating the dark brown coloured ones from those having a golden hue. In a small room few metres away, a group of women are creating a massive painting of Lord Krishna playing flute for Radha, in a garden replete with blooming flowers. The painting resembles Raghurajpur's Pattachitra (scroll painting) although, the medium here is not natural dyes but rice straw. And instead of painting brushes, the women are drawing with scissors, literally.

Women practicing the craft at Kalyani Straw Craft Centre

The sleepy village of Jirala in Dhenkanal district is today synonymous with straw painting. It has carved a place for itself in the art map of Odisha due to the efforts of Pradeepta, who is the lone craftsman in the State practicing and promoting straw painting. Considering beauty of the art form, the Dhenkanal administration has now roped him to train others in the craft. Currently, he is training 50 women free of cost at his Kalyani Straw Craft Centre in the village. In the last 15 years, he has trained at least 200 youths across the State in the craft for free. It all started as a hobby to create art out of waste, 25 years back. "The State Government recognised rice straw painting as a craft very recently," says Pradeepta, who started participating in all major handicraft exhibitions across Odisha two decades back to showcase his craft. He drew inspiration from the Pattachitra style of painting of Raghurajpur.

The craft is time-consuming, he says, while demonstrating the tedious process. Each strand of straw is carefully split into two halves with the help of a knife. He then flattens it with a pestle and pastes it on a sheet of A4 size paper. After drying, the paper is cut into desired shapes and sizes for the straw paintings. Each A4 size paper requires at least 25 straw strands, says the master craftsman. The subject of the painting is drawn on a butter paper, which is then replicated on the straw sheet. The design is then meticulously cut out in thousands of pieces of designs and pasted on the canvas, which is made of thin plywood sheet covered with black velvet. "Since the colour of the straw is golden, the painting comes out beautifully on a black canvas," he says, adding that heaps of straw are left to dry in sun for five to six months before it attains a shiny golden hue and is ready for use.

The raw materials for painting

The subjects are drawn from local folklore, Indian mythology and Jagannath Culture. Sometimes, nature also finds space in the paintings. Recently, Pradeepta created a life-size painting of the Holy Trinity - Lord Jagannath, Devi Subhadra and Lord Balabhadra - in 'Nagarjuna' Besha (attire), where he painted the deities as warriors seated atop a pedestal in the sanctum sanctorum of a Jagannath temple. The detailing in the painting would leave any art connoisseur mesmerised. In a similar painting, he creates a Kandarpa Ratha (Cupid Car) in which, a group of gopis (cowherd women) form themselves into a chariot that their beloved Krishna rides with Radha. In another, bodies of the gopis are arranged in a manner as to create impression of an elephant and seated atop the animal are Krishna and Radha. Farmers at work in their agricultural fields, tourism destinations in Odisha and sunset at Chandrabhaga with Konark Sun Temple in the background also form a part of his oeuvre. Pradeepta shows a horizontal canvas in which he has painted a village scene where farmers are getting ready for a new crop season on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya. "The Kandarpa Ratha and Jagannath Besha themes are famous among buyers," says the artist, who set up his craft training centre in the village 15 years back and has been running it with the money that he earns from selling the craft. "The paintings that are created in the centre by trainees are sold through exhibitions and 30 per cent of the income goes to them," he says.

Painting of Kandarpa Rath (Cupid Chariot)

Pradeepta dreams of a crafts village tag for Jirala like it has been in the case of Pipili (appliqué craft) or Raghurajpur. "If the Government pays a little more attention, Jirala can produce several more artisans in straw craft. Now, very few men have interest to practice this time-consuming craft. It is only women, who have the patience to learn it," he adds.

Fish Tales Etched in Brass

Flexible Brass Fish Craft of Odisha 

It may be made of brass, but this fish can still flap a fin and touch its tail. The craft of making the flexible brass fish occupies a significant place in Odisha’s rich handicraft tradition. In the lanes of Belaguntha village in Ganjam district of Odisha, three craftsmen from the Kansari community—Pradeep Maharana, Maheswar Maharana and Sushanta Sahoo—have kept this unique art form alive, which has been fighting obscurity in the face of modernity.

While the craft was started by Pradeep’s ancestors during the rule of the Bhanja kings in the 9th century, Sushanta learnt it from Pradeep’s parents. Maheswar, 85, is the only remaining artist in the village, who can make flexible fishes in wood.

In the 90s, Maheswar made the Matsya (Sanskrit for fish) avatar of Lord Jagannath for which, he got the Odisha State Handicraft Award. His creation comprised of an idol of Lord Jagannath coming out of the mouth of a wooden flexible fish.

Today, these artists and their family members are the only practitioners of the craft in Belaguntha. They do train youngsters in art colleges of the state, and sometimes outside, but none of the youths have taken up the craft as a profession. The three artists participate in training sessions and exhibitions so that people come to know about their craft.

The trio uses brass sheets, wires and wood to make various designs of fish that are in huge demand in the international handicraft market. “Despite the demand, not many are coming forward today to take up the craft as it is labour intensive,” says Pradeep, who is an electrician by profession. He had received the State Handicraft Award in 2000 for his excellence in the art form.

Placing a golden prawn with red eyes and three glinting fishes of varied lengths on a sheet of white paper, Sushanta demonstrates how the fish are made. The fish is divided into three portions—head, stomach and the tail. The head is the most important part and is prepared first and accordingly, the size of the body is decided, he says. The artist cuts brass sheets and dexterously shapes them into round blocks with wavy edges, giving them the shape of fish scales. A 20-inch fish requires at least 50 such blocks that are stitched together with a brass wire in a manner that the fish becomes bendable. Making a fish is easier compared to a prawn. “Since making a prawn involves a lot of workmanship and detailing, it takes a lot of time,” he says, adding that though it is labour intensive, making a flexible fish now is less tedious because of invention of machines that can roll brass sheets. “Earlier, we used to manually beat brass blocks to make sheets and wires,” says Sushanta. The artists have now started making flexible brass snakes that are usually offered by devotees in Shiva temples.

Although there are no records in history on the origin of the craft, Pradeep says his ancestors were hired as sculptors by Bhanja rulers and used to demonstrate the technique of making flexible brass fish at the Bhanja King’s court. During the British rule, his grandparents used to supply the handicraft to Victoria Technical Institute in Madras.

The handicraft has a mythological significance as members of the Kansari community consider the fish auspicious. Since ancient times, the craft has been associated with important rituals and social occasions. “In our village when a girl gets married, she is given a small brass fish, along with other valuables, as a good luck charm,” says Maheshwar. Pointing to the wooden Matsya avatar that fetched him the state award, Maheswar says he decided to work with wood as a medium as it was a cheaper option. “Labour that goes into working on both the mediums is the same. In fact, making the scales either with brass or wood requires a lot of practice and patience,” he says.

The three artisans say the government should come forward to help them with design intervention, which is the need of the hour.

“The handicraft is extremely rich which is why, it has sustained for several decades. However, with the market demand fast changing, we need to bring in new designs,” says Maheswar.