New Delhi, Jan. 15: Eighteen artisans from Odisha are working overtime to build a boita (boat) that will mark the return of the state to the Republic Day parade here after a gap of three years.
The theme of this year's tableau is Odisha's maritime heritage, which is celebrated across the state on the occasion of Boita Bandana.
Every year on Kartik Purnima - which falls between October and November - the state remembers its ancient sadhaba mariners who sailed from Odisha to various South East Asian countries. The tradition is believed to have started before 350 BC. The journey of seafarers from Kalinga also finds mention in the writings of Chinese scholar Hieun Tsang (645 AD).
During the annual festival of Boita Bandana, decorative miniature boats are floated in water bodies in the memory of the ancient mariners.
The Republic Day float of Odisha is a life-size boita - made of pine and sal wood. The bow (front) is shaped like a swan, while the stern (back) is the bust of a tusker.
Gajendra Sahu, an instructor from Bhubaneswar's Bibhuti Kanungo College of Art and Crafts, is co-ordinating the construction that is being carried out by 12 artistes and five carpenters at Delhi Cantonment since New Year's Day.
"Our objective is to create something that would be remembered as a symbol of Odisha. Besides 10 models dressed in the royal liveries of the sadhabas, there will also be six fibreglass boatmen. They will hold trasas, or heart shaped banners, with applique work on them. The roof above (the bridge or control room) the ship is painted with elaborate pattachitra floral motifs as seen on the borders of saris," Sahu told The Telegraph.
For their research, Sahu and his college's former principal Baladev Maharatha - also involved in the project - researched palm leaf inscriptions and sketches on display at the Odisha State Museum as well as the Odisha State Maritime Museum in Cuttack.
"In these manuscripts, we not only find accounts of the sadhabas' travels in South East Asia, but also records of them bringing back giraffes, lions and elephants. They may even have sailed to Africa. We've tried to incorporate motifs of these feats on the panels along the boita. These were primarily sail boats aided by boat men who rowed it through the high seas," Maharatha said.
He said the boita will also showcase traditional wooden chests or sindhukas that were used to store spices and handlooms - the main items of trade.
The boat is 45 feet long, 14 feet wide and 16 feet high and is flanked by stylised images of waves. Music composed by Prasant Padhi will also play from the boita - one among those of 16 states and nine central departments.
"The music is ghanta maradala music (of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh) with ' hai-yah' yells of the boatment in the background. Classical mardala drums, sitar, flute, table, dholak drums and harmonium have been used," said Sahu, who had redesigned the national sports awards in 2009.
Work on the boita began on January 1 and is expected to be complete in a week. After Republic Day, the boita will be on display in an exhibition at the Red Fort before being dismantled.
"Although our museums don't have a life size boita, this float is too large to carry back home. Hopefully, the public will find our work memorable and want to know more of Odisha's maritime legends," Sahu said.
