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Puri, renowned through ages for its
great monuments of superb architectural beauty and dotted with innumerable holy
shrines,has its own typical crafts which have survived through many generations
of artisans.Among the many arts and crafts of puri,special mention may be made
of stone carving,applique work,wood carving,mask making,palm leaf
engraving,terracota,patta chitra painting and thermocool work.
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Stone Carving
In the ornamentation of the hundreds of temples,monasteries and other works of
stone which were built in the course of many centuries in orissa,the carvers
acquired the most extraordinary technical skill in architectural decoration.The
work of stone carvers of today does not fall much behind the high artistic
excellence reached by their predecessors. At present a few families still
continue to follow the age-old tradition of creating artistic figures and
images on stones of various quality. Most of them work on soap-stone and some
on sand-stone and hard-stone.
Samiana (Canopies) and Chhatris (umbrellas) that bear mafnificent appliques and
designs of great artistic skill are manufactured at Pipili and Puri. It is a
hereditary craft. Brightly coloured patches of red, blue,black,white and yellow
clothes are stitched together in required form to produce a colourful and
harmonious pattern. Canopies and tarasas made on applique process are
increasingly finding place in festivities, while graceful umbrellas are used on
the beach and in the garden. These applique products are very beautiful and are
also exported to many foreign countries. 
The wood carving of Puri is worked in a style, blending folk and classical
forms with a special feature of colour paintings on the wooden objects. A
variety of decorative and utilitarian objects like toys depicting birds and
animals-real and mythical, dowry boxes and bowls are fashioned by the carvers.
A combination of skill and folk and classical styles makes these objects unique
in the field of Indian handicrafts.
Various types of decorative articles including masks are produced from Sola
pith and papier-mache. The pith decorations are traditionally used to decorate
the images during various festivals. Beautiful toys with detachable limbs like
nodding tigers, other animals and different types of masks are made in
papier-mache by the folk painters of Puri. A co-operative society has been
organised for this craft at Puri-town.
The palmleaf illustrations are mainly of two types, simple engravings or
illustrations in pure line on palmleaf and engravings with colour fillings. The
majority of the illustrations are in the line only. Plamleaf illustrations are
executed on oblong palmleaf. When these are intended for a manuscript they are
bound together with a thread, passing just through the middle of the leaves.
Palm leafs are also used to draw pictures of different Gods and Goddesses.
These are joined lengthwise with the help of threads to form a rectangular or
square format. These could be folded and opened or could be hung on the wall.
Terracota is an art form universal in its scope,yet emblazoned with the
distinct imprint of the native soil.The art of kiln burnt ware,graceful and
harmonious,provides the perfect counterfoil to the amazing legacy of stone
sculpture.
The Patta or the canvas is being prepared by coating the cloth with a mixture
of chalk and gum made from tamarind seed,which provides a leathery surface to
the ground.On it the painter draws directly with his brush,with light Indian
red or yellow and then the forms are filled in with earth and stone
colours,mainly with yellow,blue,red and white.Patta-chitra,though basically a
folk style,has been influenced by classical orissan sculpture forms.The
subjects depicted in the pattachitras mainly cover major Gods and Goddesses in
the Hindu pantheon,familiar episodes in the Radha Krishna legend and
Thermocool
does gain its proficiency in the hands of the traditional dexterous artisans.In
every religious function craft of thermocool are used for decorating the
platforms.Especially on Jhulana yatra,the mukti mandap or the platform where
the deities swing as a part of yearly rituals is decorated with thermocools in
different forms.Similarily in Dussehera the idol of Goddess Durga is given a
colourful shape by using thermocool for its necklaces,embroderies etc.Even
during the annual