Toshali Sands

Keeping alive the art of stone carving

As one approahces Sukhuapada, a village about 20 km from Kedrapara, one would find eight to 10 artisans working away with hammer and chisel, carving blocks of stones into aesthetic shapes under the guidance of a master craftsman.

Craftsmen of Sukhupada have kept alive the ancient art form of stone carving. As chisel and hammer work at the stone slabs, they came alive with figures of girls, animals, Buddha and other traditional images both from myth and reality. Statues of deities, animals replicas of ancient statues fill sidewalks in the village. The carvings are sold to individuals and organizations all over the country.

A 12 feet image of Lord Ganesh was recently transported from her to Mahaballipuram in Tamil Nadu. Carving a stone image demands time, patience and labour that render the product expensive. Beautiful sculpture speak of the sense of proportion and perspective of sculptures and their extraordinary skill in depicting minute details with exactitude.

Artisan Natabar Moharana said, despite the abundance of talent, the profession is far from lucrative. “While learning the art from, I found it really tough the thought of quitting. But I continued because I thought I needed to keep alive our family tradition and told myself that if I did not, nobody else would do.” Said Rabi Moharana of the same village. Sankar and Sukadev, both skilled carvers, leant the art from their respective fathers. The due is busy maintaining the family tradition. Rajkishore and Bipin Moharan of Sukuapada and their team in 1997 recreated a replica of the famous Muketswar temple arch. The giant Konark wheel installed at the gate of Holiday Inn at Ooty was the first project for Rajakishore.

Prasanta Moharana in his late 50s brigthens up as he talks about his passion. Putting aside his chisel, he speaks of traditional that dominates the art form. Born to a craftsman, the knowledge and skill he picked up was all in the family. Besides Sukhupada, the art form is also practiced in the nearby villages of Bandareswar and Panchapandav, Prasanta added.

Master craftsman Prikhita Maharana took upon himself to help distressed artisans survive. “The artisans’ main problem is lack of marketing facilities. They are often forced to sell artifacts to middle men who ignore the prevailing market prices, ” Parikhita remarked.

Middleman place orders with individual scuptors and give them an advance amount. The finished products are bought at the formers’ convenience and sold in towns and cities against huge profits. The other alternative for sculptors is to sell the artifacts to government organizations.

Artisans are often forced to refuse bulk orders for want of investment. Unless funds are made available, craftsmen would eventually abandon his age ole profession.

Fetching stone is a problem too, which are brought from Narangagada in Khurda district. The prices of stone have shot up drastically. Arakhita Das silpa samit, a cooperative society that helps stone carvers survive, has been running a centre here for a long time, using the creative potential of local artisans. “We organised ourselves in to a cooperative society to obtain fair prices for our products”, said Bidyadhar. The society has about 60 members.