BHUBANESWAR: As the country witnessed the historic Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha ceremony at Ayodhya in January this year, designer Anita Sabat toyed with the idea of depicting Lord Ram’s life on textiles.
For the city-based founder of brand ‘Utkal Amrita’, there was no better way of doing it than using Odisha textiles and Pattachitra as the medium. Two months later, she came up with an exclusive clothing collection for women, that integrate scenes from the Ramayana by intricately hand-painting them on Tassar, Mulberry and Khadi silk.
Anita has named the collection ‘Divyachitra’, which was showcased at the Bhubaneswar Runway Week here on Sunday. The collection includes 14 sarees, Ikat blouses and Pattachitra jewellery.”This exclusive line pays tribute to Indian culture, drawing inspiration from the timeless epic, Ramayana. With a focus on the intricate artistry of Odisha Pattachitra, each piece is meticulously adorned with golden line art portraying various episodes of Ramayana such as Sita Bibaha, MayaMiriga, Sabara Koli, Sita Harana, Hanuman’s quest for Sanjivani mountain, Setu Nirman,and several more, seamlessly merging traditional elements with contemporary aesthetics,” said Amrita.
In fact, the brand was working on the theme much before the Ayodhya Ram mandir inauguration. While 12 sarees are designed on various episodes of the Ramayana,two more sarees that were draped by the showstoppers at the show were based on Lord Rama’s fight with demon king Ravana and the former’s crowing as the king of Ayodhya besides, Devi Sita’s ‘Agnipariksha’.
The sarees and blouses were painted by Bhubaneswar-based Pattachitra artist and teacher Babulal Raut. “He has used the golden line technique in the painting which only a few Pattachitra artists have mastery upon. The collection is a result of four months of hard work,” said Amrita. The showstoppers were Odissi dancer Saswat Joshi and Ollywood actress and anchor Jagruti Rath. The outfits were accompanied by handmade sustainable Pattachitra jewellery made of cloth waste,paper and other materials.