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Shopping in Orissa |
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The best things to buy from Orissa are local arts and craft articles. Garments and other utility items made out of applique work are also particularly attractive for the tourists. Applique objects can be purchased at the Utkalika - State Emporium in Bhubaneswar, and the emporia can arrange shipment home for large items, such as the lawn umbrellas.
Smaller items are best purchased in small Pipli workshops, that purchase directly from the craftsmen or from the cooperative shop there.
Yet another item that tourists freak out on is the Silver Filigree work of Orissa, locally known as Tarakashi, (a distinctive art form of great intricacy). The silver filigree workers mostly practice this art around Cuttack, and their products are sold in Cuttack shops lining Nayasarak and Balu Bazaar.
Wood sculpture, images of gods and goddesses, animals like elephants, peacocks, and horses, masks, toys, boxes and bowls, are appealing exemplify master art of wood carving found in the state of Orissa. Some painted objects are carved; others are of turned wood. There are also fine, unpainted acrvings in a pale wood, which include models of temple sculpture.
The famous dhokra metal castings, an important traditional tribal craft, are made out of bronze, by the lost-wax casting method. Items made out of Dhokra work can also be found in Kuliana (Mayurbhanj), Kaimati (Keonjhar), and Sadei Bareni (Dhenkanal). Brass and bell metal work can be found at Kantilo (Puri) and Remuna (Balasore). The famous flexible fish is made at Belguntha in Ganjam district.
The contemporary professional painters of 'pata chitra' are primarily clustered in and around Puri. A big group lives in the artists' village of Raghurajpur and Chitrakarasahi, where visitors are welcome to wander in and out of dozens of galleries and houses, buying and surveying their work.
Another product in good demand are the painted, circular playing cards known as ganjapas. Old sets of these beautiful and charming, small paintings (which traditionally were made in sets of 96 cards) are much sought after by connoisseurs, and the modern ones, executed in a vigorous folk style, are often extremely appealing.
'Paintings' done by the palm-leaf etching technique are formed by stringing together rows of the rectangular leaves. They can be folded into a compact pile, then opened up like a fan. Good selections of contemporary work can be found in the emporium at Bhubaneswar, but it is fun to visit the artists themselves and see them at work at Raghurajpur. Some of the etching work can also be seen in the Orissa State Museum, and the National Museum in New Delhi.
From the 6th century onwards, Orissa produced a wealth of sculptural treasure in stone. The descendants of these artists can still be found in several places, including the village adjoining the Buddhist site of Lalitgiri in Cuttack district, and in Puri, Bhubaneswar, and Khiching. The Puri stone-sculptors still live and work in charming painted houses on Pathuria Sahi (Stone-Carver's Lane), utilizing their ancient skills to produce contemporary work on commission, occasionally finding a patron who wants a traditional piece, and training their sons and grandsons to follow in their footsteps.
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