Braving heavy rains and a bad weather condition more than 30 heritage and culture enthusiasts today visited the two famous villages of Nuagaon and Sadeibareni for dhokra crafts on the outskirts of Dhenkanal town and interacted with the artisans and learned about the processes for making the beautiful metal craft, which has been translated into beautiful art forms, generations after generations in those hamlets surrounded by beautiful forests and natural settings.
The visitors were part of the 17th Dhenkanal Heritage Walks (DHW) and today’s theme was centred around the dhokra craft and discovering the lives and art forms and the struggle and lifestyle of the craftsmen, who despite longing difficulties and hardships are carrying forward the traditions and helping in survive the art form.
Dhokra (also spelt dokra) is a non-ferrous metal casting art process with a historic past using the lost-wax casting technique. This unique metal casting technique has been used across the nation for over 4,000 years and is still used. However, one of the earliest known lost wax artefacts is the dancing girl of Mohenjo-Daro. The products of dhokra artisans are in great demand in domestic and foreign markets because of their primitive simplicity, enchanting folk motifs and forceful form. Dhokra horses, elephants, peacocks, owls, religious images, measuring bowls, and lamp caskets etc., are highly appreciated.
While dhokra craft is found in Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh and West Bengal. In Odisha, Dhenkanal and Mayurbhanj are two major producers of the beautiful art form.The visitors also heard a small talk and the demonstration of the metal casting process by award-winning artisan Sanatan Pradhan, who comes from a long line of master dhokra artists from Nuagaon dhokra craft village. However, a few years ago he along with 35 other families had to relocate and form a new village called Nuagaon away from their ancestral village Sadeibareni, which is also a cluster for dhokra art. A state-level award-winning artist, Pradhan is also the first person of the Sadeibareni Dhokra Cluster to tour England as a representative to know more techniques and also suggestions from experts to make their products more appealing and market-ready.
They also interacted with Golap Gadatia, another State design and merit awardee in dhokra craft from Nuagaon near Saptasajya. Golap, despite having a bedridden husband to look after, is continuing beautiful dhokra art pieces. She is also participating at national and state-level crafts exhibitions and showcasing her products.
The heritage enthusiasts also visited the Sadeibareni Cluster House on Dhokra Craft, constructed by the Dhenkanal district administration. The facility is facilitating interactions, exhibitions, meetings and training programmes for the artisans of the locality. They also came to know that another artist Kumati Nayak has also visited the USA for her work and glorified the village. However, they expressed their concern as the economic and living conditions of the artisans are not changing much, over the years.
Among others, DHW convener educationist Suresh Prasad Mishra, Dr Bhabani Shankar Mishra, Dr Malay Pati, members of Cuttack Heritage Walks Biswaranjan Dehury, Krushna Chandra Mohapatra and Bibhuti Barik, leading publisher from Cuttack Manoj Mohapatra, young students, researchers and heritage lovers from several walks of life joined.
