Interviewtimes 
written by : Abinash Sahu
Raghurajpur is a village which is located in Puri district and around 10 killometres from the holy town of Puri, tales screams that the village is named after lord Ram. The history of the village dates back to Treta Yuga, when lord Ram went to banabas or exile, during that time some artist accompanied him and while crossing this area, they settled here and gradually formed a village.
From five-ten houses now the village has turned out to be the home of more than 150 households, from every house you can find artists carving their best they can, every year during the Asadh tithi, when the deities of Shree Mandir are sick after bathing with 108 pots of water, they are treated inside the Anasara Ghara . During that time the Patachitra idols are substituted at the Ratna Singhasan, to whom the priest can perform the daily rituals. These Patachitras are made by none other than the artists of this heritage Village,” Raghurajpur”.
From the beginning the artists of Raghurajpur village serves Shree Jagannath temple at Puri, many important rituals are done by the artists of this heritage Village, each year the Patachitras of lord Jagannath, lord Balabhadra and devi Subhdra are prepared by the artists of this village, which is then worshipped for 9 days at Ratna Singhasan of Puri Jagannath Temple.
During early days the artists of Raghurajpur village used to paint the Chitras on tala Patra or bark of tree leaves ,but during early 9 th century, they invented a new kind of canvas , they use sarees of their household , mixed it with chalk glue and some local glue, which turned out to be a great canvas for them , now to which we are calling as pata is the updated version this canvas .
Till today this pattas are used in making the pattachitras of the idols of shree Jagannath temple, Puri said Narayan Nayak an artist of Raghurajpur village.
One can easily notice the hardwork and determination of these artists through their paintings, once you enter the village of Raghurajpur, you can easily find the arts and paintings of these artists showcased in the front of their houses there.
Today Raghurajpur has become a heritage Village, the village also gave birth to many stalwarts, also Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awardees belongs to this village. Every year thousands of tourists come to this village to have a view of the famous arts of these artists and buy them to showcase its beauty, has increased the significance of the artists and given this village an identification of a heritage village.
Picture Credits: Prachi Rathi
