Binod Kumar Maharana’s path in the realm of traditional art has been an intriguing one, ranging from learning Pattachitra at the age of ten to help support his family to receiving the nation’s highest civilian award at the age of 79.
The 79-year-old Maharana, who received the Padma Shri this year from Odisha, is now well-known for his unique traditional painting technique, which is influenced by Pattachitra and temple murals.
Maharana was born into a family of Puri-based Chitrakars from Chitrakar Sahi, however he never attended an art college. His grandfather Markanda Maharana served as his first guru.
“My father Harihara Maharana and grandfather were associated with Anasara and Rath Yatra rituals of Shree Jagannath temple as they used to create Patti Dian during the Anasara period and paint the chariots during Rath Yatra,” he told the media.
He wasn’t naturally interested in Pattachitra, though. Maharana claimed that instead, when he was ten years old, his family made him learn the art form.
“After Independence when the country was rebuilding itself, there was a lot of financial hardship that everyone faced. My family’s condition was no better. During this period, they did not know the importance of education and wanted me to take up the family vocation for sustenance,” he said.
He met the late Asit Mukherjee, a distinguished Pattachitra artist who lived in Puri’s Ramchandi Sahi, when he was fourteen years old, a few years later.
He began working as a junior instructor at the State Institute of Handicraft Training (Hastashilpa Talim Kendra), a government-run institution in Bhubaneswar, in 1973. His professional relationship with Pattachitra started at this point.
Two Pattachitra paintings he made after enrolling in the handicraft training center won him the State Award and the National Award a year later. Ten years later, he was awarded the Orissa Lalit Kala Akademi Award in 1983 as well as the Viswakarma Citation (Pattachitra) Award by the late Indira Gandhi, the former prime minister.
He has been practicing the art form for about fifty years, and after retiring, he started an art school where he teaches traditional art forms to kids between the ages of five and fourteen.
