Braving the intermittent rains, heritage enthusiasts joined the ninth edition of Jagatsinghpur Heritage Walks (JHW) paying a visit to the Siddha Barang Gosain Peetha in Punang village, the birthplace of Odisha’s Jatiya Kabi Bira Kishore Das and the Badabagar Weavers’ Village of Jagatsinghpur.
The enthusiasts congregated at the “Bir Kishore Memorial Park” near Charipolia Chowk of Jagatsinghpur town. After cleaning the premise and statue they offered floral tributes to the statue of the eminent poet.They felt that a lot can be done with help of the local community to keep the premise clean.
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The heritage enthusiasts also visited the weaving village at Badabaug and saw the making of traditional handloom items like sarees, towels, “dhoti, lungi” etc., being woven there and met the weavers who have kept this great tradition alive.
Senior weaver Narayan Behera and Vijay Kumar Das, president of the Badabaug Weavers Society, which started way back in 1936, briefed the heritage lovers about the traditional work of the weaving community and showed them the weaving workshop. According to Prabhaansu Samantaray, advisor of JHW, “if our cultural heritage and fundamental rights had been given importance, the lives and livelihoods of these weavers would definitely be better. Once upon a time the village had 300 weavers, but now after supercyclone only 50 weavers are practicing this art.”
The heritage enthusiasts also visited the Jagannath Temple in Punang and the ashram of Siddha Barang Gosain and discussed the history of Barang Gosain. On the “Chaturdashi of the Odia month of Margshir”, the Siddha Barang Peeth turns into Srikhetra. It is said that lord Jagannath himself comes here for a day and the “prasad here becomes mahaprasad” or the divine offering.The specialty of this temple is that rare wood carvings can be seen here.
JHW convenor Shrikant Singh thanked all the participants who joined the event. Prominent among others, who joined the trail, included: Biswaranjan Dehury, Convenor of Odisha Heritage Walks while Shashank Shekhar Panda discussed the future walks plan and how to promote hidden and dying art and craft treasures of Jagatsinghpur district.
