Artist Babaji Maharana. Telegraph pictures

Bhubaneswar, May 8: The fascinating artworks of Odisha — the pattachitra — have their roots in the traditional jatri patti art, which is slowly fading away.

But octogenarian Babaji Maharana has been creating the paintings in the original form all his lifetime, in an endeavour to save the art.

Today, however, suffering from mental and physical sickness, the artist from craft village Raghurajpur awaits a saviour for the ancient art form that is in the risk of dying out forever. The only surviving expert with the dexterity to create the jatri patti, Maharana has dedicated his life to the traditional art form, say villagers.

“Pattachitra is world famous and has great demand but very few people know that it has evolved from jatri patti — an age-old form of painting typical to Puri and Raghurajpur.

Babaji Maharana is probably the only one with perfection in the art. However, he never received the recognition he deserved and now with his health in danger, the art form may vanish totally,” said Bhagaban Swain, a teacher in the village.

While pattachitra is drawn on tussar cloth, the authentic jatri patti is created on a variety of mat or patti that is made of natural fibres and stone polished to help the artist draw the images on a smooth surface. Thereafter, natural glue and paint is applied on the drawings.

“In ancient days, visitors or jatris to Puri used to collect jatri pattis as souvenirs since they are only based on Lord Jagannath and depict tales regarding the deity. But slowly, artists chose the costlier medium of tussar to attract customers, which led to the evolution of pattachitra,” said Swain.

Since creating the jatri patti was painstaking and did not have much demand in the crafts market, Maharana, who hails from the family of chitrakaras or artists who serve Lord Jagannath hereditarily, never got a chance to train younger artists in the form.

Even, his adopted son Prabhakar Maharana has little knowledge about the art form.

But the danger lurking around the traditional art form has startled many artists across the state.

“This is the time when members from the art community along with government authorities should make an effort to save the art form that is breathing its last right in front of our eyes,” said Bhubaneswar based artist Tarakant Parida.