Sometime last year, when Ayodhya was being decked out for the Ram temple inauguration, almost 900 km away in Odisha’s remote Katapali village in Bargah district, Ishwar Meher worked on a sari depicting Ram Setu (bridge). A 2015 National Award-winning master craftsperson, Mr. Ishwar Meher worked with handwoven cotton yarn for five months, using natural dyes extracted from flowers, jaggery, gram flour, iron rust, and indigo.
The sari will now be showcased at the Jagannath Temple in Delhi on January 22, since Hindus believe Ram is one of the 10 avatars of Jagannath. “The temple is receiving lots of gifts from devotees across the country at the moment and we do not want the importance of our exquisite sari to be lost in the mega event. It is our heirloom,” said Dushyant Meher, whose father, Kailash Meher was one of Mr. Ishwar Meher’s five gurus. Mr. Dushyant Meher, who promotes the craft, has brought the sari for display to Delhi, and has sought permission to do so in Rashtrapati Bhavan as well.
“Artists often rely on religion, because their work depicts scenes from mythology. Sambalpur is part of Odisha’s Koshal region, believed to be the land of Kausalya, Ram’s mother. Sambalpur weavers regard Ram as their nephew and he is an integral part of our collective spiritual consciousness,” said Mr. Ishwar Meher.
