Raghurajpur Villagers Thanked CM Patnaik For Promoting Pattachitra In International Arena

Puri, June 24: Villagers of Raghurajpur heritage village are cheerful as soon as they learnt that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik during his meeting with Pope in Rome presented a Pattachitra “Tree of Life” to him.

The creator of the Pattachitra noted artist Apindra Swain said he did not know while selling it to a government officer that it will be presented to Pope in Rome.

Swain said the Pattachitra painting has been done using four colours — white, black, red and blue. It symbolically reflects the natural life force of all including vegetation, animals, and humans besides the natural environment said, Swain.

The art is above all religions and depicts humanity hence art lovers from various religions purchase it. It costs around Rs 13 to 18 thousand and takes about 18 to 20 days to draw the painting, Swain added.
It is a memorable day in my life that one of my creations will be displayed in an international place Swain said. I have a dozen of similar paintings on my counter for sale he added.
Other artists of the village are all praise of chief minister Naveen Patnaik who re-established the Pattachitra art in the international arena. They thanked the Chief Minister for his attempt to promote this traditional Odishan art.
The art village is located about 12 KM from Puri alongside the Puri Bhubaneswar national highway. About two hundred families are engaged in drawing Pattachitra paintings.
It became famous for its Pattachitra paintings. The village has been figured on the state tourist map. Every day scores of tourists visit this village and buy Pattachitra.
The state government has declared Raghurajpur as an art village as most of the residents are engaged in creating Pattachitra paintings. Later it was declared a heritage village.