Barpali: The Barpali area is well known for its contributions to the fields of literature, handlooms and it also happens to be the birth place of renowned poet Gangadhar Meher. Barpali has earned its name and fame in the entire world for Patta and Matha sarees.
Similarly, the terracotta artisan Manabodh Rana has added to the reputation of Barpali. Since the childhood days, he was learning the making of pots and other earthenware with great interest. Later on, he started making the idols of hindu deities and statues of various birds and animals. Now, his terracotta works have succeeded to attract the art lovers across India as well as foreign countries.
It is known that, he was born in the year 1959 at Kumbhar Pada of Barpali area in Bargarh district and he could not continue his studies in schools for the need of money. However, he was keen to art and craft and has been awarded many times for his exquisite art-works, at the state level and national level exhibitions.
Similarly, his works were also displayed in various exhibitions held at Kolkata in 1984, New Delhi in 1985, Chennai in 1987 organised by the Department of Textiles, Government of India including places like Bangalore, Haryana, Japan, Denmark etc.
His works had gathered wide appreciations from across the globe. These days, he is giving training on terracotta to 25 girls, under a programme sponsored by the government of India.
Interestingly, he was felicitated by the then President of India R. Venkatraman and the then Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi in 1986, for his exclusive works of terracotta.
PNN