BHUBANESWAR: Outside her house in Old Town, Subharani Mohapatra is busy giving final touches to huge effigies of the 10-headed demon king Ravana. At another corner, her family joins the different parts of the effigies which would be sent to the Puja pandals that would host Ravana Podi this year. Ravana Podi is being organised in the Capital city after a gap of two years and Subharani - the only woman in Bhubaneswar making Ravana effigies for over three decades - couldn’t be happier.
She and her family have been at the job for over two months now. Although, the number of orders she has received is less compared to pre-Covid times. “These effigies need putting together huge bamboo structures which are covered with many layers of cotton cloth and paper,” says the 60-year-old artist. It takes her at least 10 to 15 days to prepare the structures.
She has this year created Ravana effigies for Baramunda and Naharkanta in the Capital, Bankuala and Koradakanta in Khurda district besides Jatni. While the one for Baramunda is 80-feet-high, the rest are between 35 ft to 40 ft high. “I used to make effigies for Saheed Nagar, Chandrasekharpur, Badagarh pandals too but Ravana Podi is not being organised at these pandals this year,” she said.
Till 2020, she used to get orders from Puri and Angul as well. In fact, Ravana Podi this year will be held at only five pandals - Baramunda, Kesura, Naharkanta, Jharpada and Nayapalli. Earlier, the ritual was a part of Durga Puja celebrations at Saheed Nagar, Rasulgarh, Chandrasekharpur, Nayapalli, Old Town, Jharpada, Ganganagar pandals, among other areas.
The first effigy she had made was 35 years back for Saheed Nagar. “I had then made Ravana and his brother Kumbhakarna effigies for Saheed Nagar Puja pandal. Since then, the shape, size and look of Ravana has undergone a vast change,” says Subharani, who learnt the craft from her father-in-law immediately after marriage. She further honed her skills at a Kala Niketan near her husband’s home. While her two children help her in making the effigies, she has hired four labourers who also help them. The family makes at least Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000 from making effigies, depending on their sizes.