NABARANGPUR:With her deft fingers, Prabhati Patro designs a colourful wooden box with yellow lac threads. A hut by the countryside, a farmer returning from his paddy field, a group of villagers dancing and a fruit-bearing tree __ all four sides of the box have a story to tell. These are gifted to girls after marriage and also used as jewellery boxes, says Prabhati, who is one among the few craftspersons in Nabarangpur practising lac craft.
She belongs to Sankhari community in the district that has been instrumental in preserving the dying craft tradition. Today, there is neither any Government patronage nor raw materials due to which its practitioners are steadily giving up the craft. “A decade back, the entire Sankhari community was into making lac products of high artistic quality. Today, only a handful of women are carrying on with the craft tradition,” says Prabhati, who has been practising lacquer craft since her college days. Earlier, the community members adorned palaces of ‘maharajas’ and ‘zamindars’ on festive occasions with lac ware.
Lac articles are invariably wooden ware ornamented with lacquered bases. What makes Nabarangpur’s lac craft different is that the artisans work with coloured lac threads to draw decorative designs and patterns. Artisans make boxes, chains, toys, sticks and other decorative products with lac.
Prabhati, who had exhibited her products abroad in the past, says there is no encouragement from Handicrafts department now. Earlier, the products were procured by Utkalika and Orissa Rural and Urban Producers’ Association (ORUPA). Artisans stopped selling their creations to Utkalika five years back as the procurement price is much less than the charge for making it. Utkalika has not revised the price yet. ORUPA, similarly, does not place orders with the artisans anymore. A cooperative society that was formed in the 80s to look into marketing of lac handicrafts, has been closed now.
Prabhati says artisans are not participating in any exhibitions as their travel and accommodation expenditures are not being reimbursed by the Government anymore. “Unlike Pattachitra and other crafts, lac products are not being sent to the State and National level exhibitions by the Handicrafts department,” she alleges.
Arati Sahu, another artisan of the community, says procuring raw material has become very difficult. Lac, the main base of the handicraft, was earlier available in plenty in the district. With gradual shrinking of forests, artisans now depend on adjacent districts for the raw material. In Nabarangpur, lac is only available in Chandahandi block.
The artisans say if the State Government does not encourage the craft and its artisans, it would become difficult for them to keep it alive. Collector Yamini Sarangi assured to look into revival of lac craft and help its practitioners with supply of raw materials.
DYING CRAFT