Aura of India: Pattachitra of Odisha: Raghurajpur Village and How to Buy It

A house front in Raghurajpur, Odisha, painted with red and white patterns

Photo: Sumit Surai, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped), via Wikimedia Commons

Raghurajpur, a painters’ village near Puri, in the morning.

A village where every veranda is a studio and every wall tells a story.

Paint on cloth

Pattachitra means a picture on cloth: patta is cloth, chitra is picture. The painter, called a chitrakara, first makes the canvas. Two layers of old cotton are glued together with a paste of tamarind seed, coated with chalk and gum, and rubbed with a stone until the surface takes a fine line. The colours are few and natural: white from powdered conch shell, black from lamp soot, red from a stone called hingula, yellow from another called haritala. There is no shading. Figures have long eyes and heavy jewellery, and a border of flowers and leaves runs round the edge.

A village at work

Raghurajpur is a small village on the Bhargavi river, among coconut and palm groves. Almost every household practises a craft. On the verandas, painters work on cloth and on tussar silk; others engrave palm leaves, carve stone and wood, or make masks and toys of papier-mâché. The outer walls of the houses are painted with gods and scenes from the epics. Visitors walk the lanes, watch the work and buy straight from the families who make it.

Painted for Jagannath

Pattachitra grew up around the Jagannath temple in Puri, and most paintings tell its stories: Jagannath with his brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra, the ten avatars of Vishnu, the life of Krishna, the Ramayana. Each year, after the gods’ ritual bath in late May or June, they are hidden from view for about two weeks before the Rath Yatra. In those days, called anasara, three paintings made by the temple’s own chitrakaras take their place. In 2008 Orissa Pattachitra was registered as a Geographical Indication, a legal label that ties a craft to its place.

Getting to Raghurajpur

Raghurajpur lies just off the Puri–Bhubaneswar road near Chandanpur, about 10 to 14 kilometres from Puri by car or auto. The nearest railway station is Sakhigopal, about 5 kilometres away; the airport is at Bhubaneswar, about 45 kilometres away. Odisha Tourism lists the village as open from 9 am to 6 pm, with no entry fee.

Pictures on palm leaf

The second craft of Raghurajpur is tala pattachitra, pictures on palm leaf. Young leaves are dried and seasoned, often with turmeric, and cut into strips. The artist holds a strip between finger and thumb and draws with an iron stylus, a pointed metal pen, pressing just hard enough to cut the surface without splitting the leaf. Lamp black is then rubbed over the strip and wiped off. The black stays in the cut lines, and the drawing appears.

The strips are stitched together with thread, so the finished piece folds into a block and opens out like a fan. Some artists cut small windows in the top leaf and lay a coloured leaf beneath. Odisha’s old manuscripts were written in the same way, which is why palm-leaf work here has such fine, sure lines.

A heritage village

Raghurajpur was chosen as Odisha’s first heritage village. Around 2000, after a study by INTACH, the national heritage trust, it was developed with Odisha Tourism and the Ministry of Tourism: the house walls were painted with murals, and a crafts centre and visitor facilities were built. Odisha Tourism now calls it India’s first heritage crafts village.

The village is also known for gotipua, a dance in which young boys, dressed as girls, perform in the style of Odissi. The great Odissi dancer Kelucharan Mohapatra was born here, as was the gotipua master Maguni Charan Das. Shows are put on for visitors from time to time; ask in the village. Danda Sahi, a smaller painters’ village nearby, is worth a stop on the way.

Raghurajpur fits easily into a day from Puri, or a drive along the Odisha coast. For the rest of the state, see the Odisha guide.

Before you buy

Ask to see a canvas being prepared. A real patta is stiff, smooth and layered.
Look closely at the line. In good work it is fine, even and sure.
Fine work is slow, so the price follows the size and the detail.
Palm-leaf pieces fold like a fan. Open them gently and keep them dry.
Ask before you photograph a painter or a painting.

By evening the brushes are washed and put away. The walls go on telling their stories.

Plan your visit

Where to see it made	Raghurajpur, near Puri, where painters work on their verandas; also Danda Sahi nearby, and painters’ lanes in Puri town.
Timings and entry	9 am to 6 pm, with no entry fee, as listed by Odisha Tourism in October 2026. Give it two to three hours.
Where to buy	From the painters in Raghurajpur; or at Utkalika, the Odisha government’s craft emporium, in the Market Building, Bhubaneswar, for fixed prices.
Price guide	It depends on the size, the detail and whether it is cloth, silk or palm leaf. No reliable 2026 price list could be found; compare several houses before you buy.
How to tell the real thing	A hand-made patta is stiff and smooth, with layers of cloth at the edge. The line is fine and even, there is no shading, and the colours sit flat. Printed copies have no texture at all.
How to reach	About 10 to 14 km from Puri, off the Puri–Bhubaneswar road near Chandanpur, by car or auto. Sakhigopal station is about 5 km away; Bhubaneswar airport about 45 km.
Best time	October to March, when it is cooler.

Open Raghurajpur Heritage Crafts Village, Puri, Odisha in Google Maps

Questions people ask

What is pattachitra painted with?

Natural colours on a cloth canvas stiffened with tamarind-seed paste and chalk: white from conch shell, black from lamp soot, red from the hingula stone and yellow from haritala, mixed with gum.

Is there an entry fee for Raghurajpur?

No. Odisha Tourism lists no entry fee, and the village is open from 9 am to 6 pm.

How far is Raghurajpur from Puri?

About 10 to 14 km, depending on the route, off the Puri–Bhubaneswar road near Chandanpur.

What is the difference between pattachitra and palm-leaf engraving?

Pattachitra is painted with a brush on prepared cloth. Palm-leaf work, tala pattachitra, is drawn with an iron stylus and then rubbed with lamp black, which stays in the cut lines.

Is pattachitra GI-tagged?

Yes. Orissa Pattachitra was registered as a Geographical Indication in 2008, with the Odisha State Co-operative Handicrafts Corporation as applicant.

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Pattachitra of Odisha: Raghurajpur Village and How to Buy It