Shopping in Orissa

The early designation of parts of Orissa as ‘Utkal’ (land of excellence), was no doubt due to the brilliance of both her architecture and sculptural traditions. The myriad craft forms found throughout Orissa can serve the purpose of momentoes or gifts, which the tourists would love to carry for their friends back home. To know more about them, it is worth checking with the local tourist office and scouting the market to search out the interesting local art and craft.

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.

Weaving Work

Many thousands of weavers of Orissa, clustered in small communities throughout the state, create “Ikat” fabrics that have individuality of their own and are unrivalled in the world. The term ikat reflects the fact that early trade contacts between India and Indonesia resulted in considerable cultural and artistic exchange. The technique, which is often referred to in India as ‘tie and dye’ (and in Orissa as bandha) is intricate and difficult. Bundles of yarn are first dyed by successively wrapping (tying) different sections of the bundle, and applying one colour at a time. The dye penetrates the exposed sections and does not touch the wrapped sections.