STONE CARVING
Main Attractions : Temples Of Bhubaneswar, Konark & Puri
Romancing The Stone
Stone carving is a major handicraft of Orissa. As is
evident from the innumerable archaeological monuments,
rock-cut sculptures, caves and
temples built for centuries and embellished
with most beautiful and intricately carved statue and other adornments,
the art of carving in stone had reached, in Orissa, dizzy heights of
excellence perfected through centuries of disciplined efforts of
generations of artisans.
The progeny of these artisans who built the magnificent temples of
"Parsurameswar",
"Mukteswar",
"Lingaraja",
"Jagannatha"
(also spelt as Jagannath) and that wonder in stone, the temple chariot of
the Sun God at
Konark . Besides
the beautiful Stupas and monasteries of
Lalitagiri Ratnagiri and
Udayagiri have kept alive the sculptural traditions of their
forefathers and their deft hands can and do chisel and carve exact
replicas of the original temple sculptures besides producing a variety of
other items.
Unlike sculptors of other places, the artisans of Orissa are at home with
a variety of materials. They handle with equal facility the ultra soft
white soapstone, or "Khadipathara", as the slightly harder
greenish chlorite or "Kochilapathara" and the still harder
pinkish Khandolite or "Sahanapathara" or "Baulapathara"
and the hardest of all black granite or "Mugunipathara".
The
tools they use are few and simple and consist mainly of hammers and
chisels of various shapes and sizes with such local names as 'Muna',
'Patili', 'Martual', 'Thuk-Thuki' and 'Nihana'. Whether the stone is hard
or soft a sort of outline is first drawn on the stone which is already cut
to the appropriate size.
Once the outline is incised indicating the shape, the final figure is
brought out by removing the unwanted portions. While for the harder stones
this is done by chiseling out the extra material, with softer stones this
is done by scraping out the same with a sharp flat-edged iron tool. As for
the motifs, the endless variety of sculptures adorning the temples
provides the models although other motifs are also not uncommon.
The Exquisite Embellishments
Among the former the ubiquitous "Alasa Kanyas" or indolent
damsels and "Salabhanjikas", lady with the bough of a sal tree, "Surasundaris"
heavenly beauties playing on different musical instruments adorning the
topmost tier of the Konark temple, the "Nava Grahas" or nine
deities representing the nine planets, Konark wheel, Konark horse,
elephant, lion composite mythical figures like 'Gajabidala', 'Gajasimha'
are quite popular.
Other motifs include representation of deities of the Hindu pantheon like
Krishna and Radha, Laxmi, Vishnu, Durga, Buddha, Ganesa, 'Haraparvati',
Nrusingha etc. In recent times may decorative and utilitarian articles
like ashtrays, paperweights, candle stands book rests are also being made.
These carvers also make images for installation in temples as presiding
deities and Parswa-Devatas as well as large pieces for decoration of
public places.
One may find samples of these in the Handicrafts museum,
Bhubaneswar
, in the Parliament House annexe in
Delhi ,
Konark horse in
the Barabati Stadium at Cuttack and Konark
wheel almost the same size as the original adorning the face of a modern
Hotel at Bhubaneswar. Another giant Konark horse will adorn the traffic
island at a busy intersection in Bhubaneswar and will soon be a landmark.
The four colossal Buddha images and the friezes depicting the life of the
Buddha and Ashoka in the modern "Shanti Stupa" at Dhauli are
also the handiwork of Orissa's craftsmen. Artisans mainly at Puri,
Bhubaneswar, and Lalitgiri in Cuttack district practice the handicraft
though some are also found in Khiching
in Mayurbhanj District. The traditions are carried on from generation to
generation and a few ancient texts on the art, which have survived, are
followed closely.
Utensils & Kitchenware
Apart from the decorative, votive articles and modern utilitarian items,
the craft also covers another group of products in shape of stoneware
utensils and kitchenwares.
Following the simple process of turning and polishing by using a local
wooden lathe called "Kunda", the craftsmen produce beautiful
polished plates ('Thali'), containers ('Gina, Pathuri'), cups and glasses.
These are used for pujas, ritual worships as well for regular eating
'Pathuris', stone ware deep containers are particularly good for storing
curd as they do not react to acid and these are also filled with water and
used for placing the legs of wooden 'Almirahs' to prevent ants from
getting in. The craftsmen making these articles are concentrated at
Baulagadia and Nilgiri.
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