Rajat Kumar Panigrahi's quest for the dying art and crafts of Western Odisha is never-ending. In the last nine years, this lecturer of Nuapada district has travelled to nearly 1,000 villages in the region. And along the journey, Rajat has documented a number of crafts and traditional artisans, creating an online repository 'Matir Kala' that can be used for reference by future generations.
Having an inclination towards the art and culture of Western Odisha, 28-year-old Rajat began his documentation drive with traditional musical instruments in 2012 when he was in college. He visited villages in Nuapada in search of the instruments during weekends and found many. "These instruments were used in social and cultural events but people who played them had given up on the vocation because it did not help them make ends meet. I tried helping them by looking for potential buyers for the musical instruments and got many art enthusiasts to procure them", he recalled.
Encouraged by the response, Rajat decided to explore Kalahandi, Balangir and Sonepur to discover rare art forms and artefacts. Two years later, he joined a college as a lecturer in zoology but continued his endeavour. Over the years, he came across various performing art forms and collected old wood carvings from Kalahandi, bamboo crafts from Nuapada besides, traditional instruments, handicrafts and terracotta pieces from different parts of the region.
Feeling the need to document his findings, Rajat started his initiative 'Matir Kala' along with a namesake YouTube channel in 2017. Helping him in the documentation drive is his cousin Satya Panigrahi and friend Ganesh Pradhan who help him record and edit the videos respectively. He has not only been making videos on art forms and handicrafts but also interviewing the artists.
Currently, he works as a lecturer in the Yuvodaya College in Balangir and makes it a point to explore a new village of Western Odisha at least twice a week.
Some of his major documentation include folk culture of Chuktia Bhunjia tribe of Nuapada, Debguru folk tradition of Balangir, folk instrument makers of Nuapada, Sonepur and Balangir; Dalkhai folk tradition of Bargarh; folk traditions of Dongria Kandha in Kalahandi; Dhunkel instrument, Kisan folk dance in Sambalpur, Sarangi and Ghudka folk instruments in Balangir, Kahalandi's Ghumra dance, Chhatar Jatra of Bijaygarh (Raj Komna) in Naupada, Bargarh Ikat and puppet dance of Nuapada.
Rajat's YouTube videos are being used by students for research and he is soon planning to launch a lecture series on various topics related to art and culture. Besides, he is developing a museum at his home to showcase traditional musical instruments, many of which are rare to find today.
