In Odisha, Chandua applique artisans keep a temple tradition alive, but struggle to earn 

Chandua is deeply rooted in the traditions of the Jagannath Temple, and that connection is visible in the craft itself. Its colours and motifs draw from the temple’s visual traditions

About 40 kilometres from Puri, Pipili is a village where almost every shop seems to sell the same thing – Chandua, Odisha’s applique craft. Brightly coloured fabrics, black, blue, yellow and red, are cut into geometric shapes and stitched together into canopies, umbrellas and wall hangings.

The craft has a deep connection with the Jagannath Temple in Puri, where Chandua canopies are traditionally used to cover the deity. It “is the most valued aesthetic offering made to Jagannath in the Odia cultural imagination,” writes researcher Madhulika S Naidu in ‘Chandua: Canopies of Labour’, a bilingual book documenting Odisha’s living appliqué traditions, launched in Bhubaneswar last month, and published by Odisha Craft Odyssey (OCO).

A craft for generations

In Pipili, Chandua isn’t the work of a handful of artisans. Almost all the families are involved. Some members cut the fabric, others create and stitch the motifs, while others sell the finished product.

For Athar Ali, the craft has been a livelihood since 1982. Over the years, it has taken him far beyond Pipili. “I’ve travelled across India, from Delhi to Andaman & Nicobar, because of this craft,” he says.