By Panchanan Agrawalla
Raghurajpur is a unique village in Puri district of Orissa. It'sidyllic setting on the southern bank of River Bhargavi surrounded by coconut, palm, mango, jackfruit groves and other tropical trees gives it the identity of a real Indian village. A number of betel-leaf gardens dot the nearby paddy fields.
The village runs from east to west with houses arranged in two neat rows, facing each other. In the centre runs a line of small temples and the lone Bhagabat Tungi, the community meeting place of the villagers. The temples are dedicated to Bhuasuni (the village goddess or Grama Devati), Radha Mohan, Gopinath, Dasabhuja, Laxminarayan and Gourang.
To reach Raghurajpur one has to get down at Chandanpur Bus Stop, which is about 10 km from Puri and 50 km from Bhubaneswer on N.H. No. 203 connecting Puri with Bhubaneswer, the two important tourist destinations of the country. From Chandanpur one has to take a cycle-rickshaw or walk on a 1.3-km scenic road to reach this village. One may also hire a taxi either from Puri or Bhubaneswer to reach straight to the village.
The coconut-palm-shaded village is quite different from other villages of the state. It has its own identity. What is unusual is the number of outsiders visiting the village round the year. These people don't come here to see a typical Orissan village from close quarters but to see and enjoy the rich traditions of Orissan arts and crafts at one place. The village has a community of artisans who produce different varieties of handicraft items like pata paintings, palmleaf engravings, stone carvings, papier mache toys and masks, wood carvings, wooden toys, cow-dung toys, tussar paintings, etc. Perhaps nowhere in India one finds such a huge congregation of so many arts at one place like Raghurajpur. This is also the only village in India where each family is engaged in the profession of preparing some craft item. As a multi-caste village, Raghurajpur has 103 households having 311 artists, averaging three artists in one family. Some of them are National Award winners. One can come across the best tradition of Orissan paintings and some of the finest pieces of work in this village.
Besides crafts, this village has a living tradition of performing arts known as Gotipua, the earlier form of Odissi. A worthy son of Orissa, Padmabibhusana Guru Kelucharan Mahapatra, an exponent of Odissi dance was born in this village and had his early trainings in Gotipua traditon here. Now a Gotipua Gurukul, named Maa Dasabhuja Gotipua Odissi Dance School, has been established here under the guidance of Guru Maguni Charan Das. The trainees of the said school present their performances at different cultural events in the country and abroad.
INTACH has selected this village to revive the ancient wall paintings of Orissa. The work has already been completed and now the village looks like a living museum of paintings.
To give this village its rightful place, both in the cultural and tourist maps of the country, Orissa Tourism and Ministry of Tourism, Government of India have identified this village for developing rural tourism. Shri Jagmohan, former Union Minister of Tourism and Culture paid a visit to this village on June 27, 2002 and after seeing this village declared that the village would be developed as a role model for rural tourism in India. INTACH is preparing the Master Plan for integrated development of the said village which will be implemented within a short period. They have submitted Phase I of the report on the said Master Plan for implemention. The government of India has sanctioned Rs 40 lakh for Phase I and Rs 1,200 lakh to start the work. The government of Orissa is taking initiatives to develop the road from Chandanpur to Raghuraj-pur. The state government has taken over the works to develop the road into an excellent one. The Orissa state wing of UNICEF has started work on providing adequate sanita-tion and drinking water facilities.
The basic needs like roads, drinking water, sanitation, interpretation centre, resthouse, etc. will come into being very soon. Once the Rural Tourism Project is completed, Raghurajpur will come to occupy a prominent place on the national travel circuit of the Government of India.
