Bhubaneswar, June 21: Sudarshan Sahoo, a retired deputy regional manager of Central Bank, Bhubaneswar Circle, has acquired another identity of his own.

A passionate collector of brass and bell metal artefacts, he has an enviable collection of over 2,500 pieces of metallic art in a tiny one-room museum at his Jagamara residence in the city.

Sahoo, who did his MSc in agriculture from the Orissa University of Agriculture Technology, joined the Central Bank as an agriculture finance officer in 1981. But his passion for collecting artefacts made of brass and bell metal made him stand apart.

He collected them from 12 districts in Odisha, three districts in Bengal as well as from Calcutta and Mumbai.

The banker has collected several artefacts including utensils, paan (betel) serving items, cosmetic containers, items used during religious functions, measuring pots and instruments and toys for children in the last 25 years.

From his impressive collection of old coin boxes, paan containers, jewellery boxes, lamps, diyas, waist jewellery, betel nut crackers, metal toys, musical instruments (mainly for religious purpose), water dispensers, chillums, oil and haldi holders attract the attention of most of the visitors.

"I hail from a traditional family that dealt with brass and bell metal and my father Gopinath Sahoo was a master craftsmen. I want to preserve the tradition as these craftsmen infuse a personal touch in the making of the designs. I want to preserve the tradition in the best possible way," Sahoo told The Telegraph.

The banker has sourced most of his collections from his own village Kantilo in Nayagarh district famous for metal works and also from districts such as Mayurbhanj, Ganjam, Puri, Cuttack, Balasore, Bhadrak, Dhenkanal, Sambalpur, Boudh and Phulbani. He even collected many items from Bishnupur in Bankura and Nadia districts in neighbouring Bengal.

"I purchased most of these collectibles from my salary and now I purchase them from my pension fund. I want to build a museum soon and Kishore Kumar Basa, the former director of the Indian Museum in Calcutta gave his consent to guide me," said Sahoo.

Sahoo's wife Jyotsnarani said: "When he started collecting items, I was not comfortable. He kept on collecting artefacts without informing me. On one occasion during his absence I saw the entire collection and was actually impressed. Now, I help him in sorting them and cleaning them from time to time."

Basa, who is currently a professor of anthropology at the Utkal University said: "Sahoo's collection is indeed unique and researchers and students of anthropology can get valuable ideas after seeing them. I will definitely ask my students to visit his house and study them."

"There is a lot of old literature that talks about traditional traders (sadhabas) from Odisha, who used to travel to the southeast Asian nations. They took metal artefacts from Kantilo in their ships (boitas) and sold them there. We should preserve this historic saga," said Sahoo.