Raghurajpur Handicrafts & Pattachitra, Puri

  • Post category:Puri

Raghurajpur is 50 km away from Bhubaneswar on the way to puri. This is a unique village where every family is engaged in art and crafts. This village is renowned for Pattachitra. The artists are also famous for wooden images, paper Mache stone carving and palm leaf etching as well as Gotipua dance with Guru Sisya tradition. The village is also famous for the Gotipua dance. Near to Raghurajpur is another better-known destination is DandaSahi, which has the potential of becoming a heritage village of tomorrow.

A small village of about 50 households, Dandasahi is on the side of the historical road, through which Sri Chaitanya had travelled to Puri. The Raghurajpur village, idyllic setting on the Southern bank of the river Bhargavi, is surrounded by coconut, palm, mango, jackfruit, groves & other tropical trees. A number of betel vine gardens also dot the surrounding paddy fields. The visitors not only come here to see a typical Orissan village from very close quarters but also to enjoy the rich traditions of Orissan Arts & Crafts in one place.

It has a community of artisans who produce different varieties of handicraft items like Patta paintings, palm leaf engravings, stone carvings, paper mache toys & masks, wood carvings, wooden toys, cow dung toys, tusser paintings etc. For its rightful place both in the Cultural & Tourist maps of the country as a heritage destination, Orissa Tourism & Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India have developed this village under Rural Tourism Projects. (Source)