Toshali Sands

Puri is famous for various handicraft items , Applique, Brass materials, Wood carvings, Stone carvings, Shale products, Sola carving, Handloom sarees, Bangles, Patta Chitra, Palm Leaf Archiesand many local handicraft and handloom items.

The main market areas are Swarga Dwar area, New marine Drive Road, On the sea shore in front of Swarga Dwar, Grand Centre, Near Sri Jagannath temple. Special wood carvings , patta paintings, greetings, Photos, Palm Leaf items are available at Sun Crafts, V.i.P. Road, Puri.. Sudarsan Crafts is famous for stone carving statues. Besides Sarees and handloom products are available at Boyanika near Jagannath temple and Swarg Dwar, Utkalika near Sea Beach in Swarga Dwar.

Applique Work

Garments and other utility items made out of applique work (locally called as Chandua) easliy catch one’s eyes. Applique objects can be purchased at the Utkalika - State Emporium in both Bhubaneswar and Delhi, and the emporia can arrange shipment home for large items, such as the lawn umbrellas. For the smaller items, it is fun to wander in the small Pipli workshops, purchasing directly from the craftsmen or from the cooperative shop there. Pipli is the place where the applique work has originally come from….families carry out this tradition of making the canopies etc for generations.

Silver Filigree

Silver Filigree work of Orissa, locally known as Tarakashi, is 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. Most of the artists work with an alloy of 90% or more pure silver (the western term ’sterling silver’, for comparison, designates an alloy with 92.5% silver). Most of the silver items are sold here by weight.

Wood Work

Wood sculpture, images of gods and goddesses, animals like elephants, peacocks, and horses, masks, toys, boxes and bowls, are really appealing and are samples of the excellence of the art of wood carving of Orissa. Some of the painted objects are carved; others are of turned wood. There are also fine, unpainted carvings in a pale wood, which include models of temple sculpture. The plain wood-turned items being made today include very attractive pitchers, glasses, bowls, and lamps. Wood-working is centered around Puri, Bargarh, and Cuttack.
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Graphic Art- Art engraved on paper, lino,wood, stone, copper and zinc plates.ln a sense it may include painting, printing, engraving,drawing, lettering and writing. Four kinds of graphic arts are(i)Serigraphy(stensil, silk, screen, painting, paper cut)(ii)Planography(monoprints, sando prints,lithography) (iii)Relief (Lino-cut,wood cut,engraving and metal cut)and(iv)lntaglio(dry print ,metal engraving).
Graphic includes both art and craft. Rock edicts,copper plates of kings. paintings on palm leaves. engraving on bell metal utensils ,dokra works and bamboo articles come under graphic art.

Kalahandi The magical land of Tribals

From the well known Golden Triangle of Puri, Konark and Bhubaneswar, to the brilliantly executed temples throughout Orissa. Kalahandi beckons are discrening traveller who with his back-pack years for his place in the sun. With a large percentage of tribals who have managed to keep their culture intact, Kalhandi is simply the first and the last word in ethnic Art and Craft.

The environment with it breath-taking array of warm, over-whelming forests which are dark been during the day owing to the Sun-light which falls in patches, to the juge mountains and craggy hills, continues to inspire the Tribal artists who skillfully weave the magic of their surroundings in their work. Dotted with Water-falls and developing towns, Kalahandi is a wonderful combination of ethnic civilization which is adapting itself to the demands of modernity.

The district headquarters of Kalahandi district named after its presiding diety Bhawanisankar is Bhawnipatna. A growing populatin and more job opportunities attract many hopefuls to Bhawanipatna. It is a convenient base for touring the various places of interest of the district.
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Konark: Cover Story

Bhubaneswar is a precious relic of our rich cultural and spiritual past Bhubaneswar- the place where legandary’s king underwent a complete change of heart-after witnesseing the untold sufferings and miseries of Kalinga war. The place where he swore that henceforth compassion and love woulod be his weapons to conquer the world and not sword. The place where he realized the futility of war. Hence Bhubaneswar is the place in history where love and compassion scored over the war.

A feat which is not mean achievement in itself. The ancient name of Bhubaneswar was Ekamanakhestra. Mythology has it that Bhubaneswar was the health resort of Lord Shiva. In terms of sacredness it is next to Varanasi. Bhubanewsar, the capital of Orissa, is also popularly known as the “Temple City of India”. Being the seat of Tribubanewsar of “Lord Lingaraj’, Bhubaneswar is an important Hindu pilgrimage center. Hundreds of temples dot the landscape of the Old Town, which once boasted of more than 2000 temples. Origins of these beautiful temples date back to the region of the local King Jajaki Keshari who brought over ten thousand Brahmins from Oudh in his quest to build temples. A task which they accomplished beautifully in exquisite marvels of sandstones. Thus began Bhubaneswar’s temple odyssey. Bhubaneswar is the place where temple building activities of Orissan style flowered form its very inception to its fullest culmination extending over a period of over one thousand years. This city is home to a scintillating array of ancient temples dating back a period between 7th Century A.D. to 13th century A.D. In a chronic order the temples of Bhubaneswar file past in this manner. The temples of Laxmanswar, Satrughaneswar and Baratewswar (6th century A.D.) Parsuramewar and Swarnajaleswar (7th century A.D.) Vaital (8th century A.D), Mukteswar (10th century A.D.) Brahmeswar, Rajarani and Lingarja (11th century A.D.) and Ananta Vasudev (13th Century A.D.)

In fact it is said that at one time over 7000 temple crowded around the holy Bindu Sagar Tank of Bhubaneswar alone. Today only 5000 have survived the ravages of time. The temples of Orissa are built in an identical pattern. They have four sections namely, Biman, Jagmohan, Natmandir and Bhogmandap. Natmanid is for religious dances. Jagmohan is the entrance to the main temple and finally Biman is the innermost place where the deity is installed. Enclosed by an elaborately carved and engraved boundary wall. These temples easily house smaller shrines to numerous deities, bathing tanks, handicrafts outlets etc. the imperious finger of creativity traces a familiar line linking up the common heritage that hinds them together, even as the newer concepts enhances their traditional beauty.
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