About Craft

One of the most ancient crafts of the world, etching and paintings on the palm leaf still thrives in the state of Odisha, India. This art form is still one of the most respected art form here and is practiced by the artists with so much love, care and devotion. The intricate carvings on dried leaves takes hours and days to be done.

As this unique art form is done on dried palm leaves, the unripe leaves of the palm tree are first cut and semi dried. Then they are soaked in a mix of turmeric, neem leaf and water for their anti fungal and anti bacterial properties to save the leaf from getting destroyed to fungus or insects eating them up. The coated palm leaves are then left to dry in the sun. The dried palm leaves are then cut to the desired size. Using needle and thread, the fragments of the dried palm leaf is stitched up together to form a flat square or rectangular shape.

An iron nib stylus, called “lekhani” is used to engrave and etch on the dried palm leaves. The etched portions are cut out and are filled with colors. Mostly natural black colour is used as it gives the palm etching a natural look. The black colour is used to collected from oil lamp burning at nights. Or a paste made of bean leaves, charcoal made of burnt coconut shells, til oil and turmeric is rubbed on the etching that highlights the figures. The excess black is removed quickly by washing, so that the leaf does not absorb all the unwanted color. Each piece takes about 15-20 days to complete or even more depending on the art to be etched. The painting is folded like a panel and is tied with string. These are sometimes covered with cotton cloth in case there are many leaf layer is attached.

Most of the art works depicts mythological stories, Gods and Goddesses figures with minute details of hair style, dress, animals, flowers and trees etc. Stories and incidents of Mahabharat, Ramayana and other epics are also etched.