Binay Singh
Varanasi: Maintaining the age-old spirit of ‘Atithi devo bhava’ that prescribes the traditional Indian Hindu-Buddhist philosophy of revering guests with same respect as god, the local artisans crafted exquisite art pieces for the distinguished guest from Sri Lanka -the Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who visited the city on Sunday.
Whenever any distinguished guest or international leader visits the city the local artisans prepare mementos of traditional art for them. During his visit to the city in March 2018 the French President Emmanuel Macron was awestruck by seeing the beautifully crafted intricate artifacts by these craftsmen, who had prepared art pieces of famed Gulabi Meenakari (Pink enameling), wood craft, soft stone craft undercut work, intricate embroidery of zari-zardozi art and Banarasi handloom. Similar gesture was shown to the Japanese PM Shinzo Abe during his visit to the city in December, 2015. Not only this, a master artisan of woodcraft also presented a wooden Ganesha to the Swiss President Doris Leuthard at an exhibition held at National Handicraft and Handloom Museum, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi in September 2017.
This time a master weaver Bachchelal Maurya from Chhahi village in Sarnath area artistically wove the Buddhist inscription –‘Buddham sarnam gachhami, Dhammam sarnam gachhami, Sangham saranam gachhami’ on the ‘anga-vastram’ (stole) in honour of visiting guest from Buddhist country. Using the calligraphy technique on handloom, crafted the stole with golden zari.
Maurya, a Geographical Indication (GI) authorized user and Handloom Mark registered weaver, prepared it with the support of Human Welfare Association (HWA), the organization working for the promotion of GI goods. Maurya had also designed a special stole weaving the famous couplet of Sant Kabir –‘Jhini Bini Chadariya’ that was presented to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the launching ceremony of National Handloom Day in Chennai on August 8, 2015. Besides, many other gift items like wooden statue of Lord Buddha, a stole with the national flags of Sri Lanka and India, and pink enameled Buddha statue were also prepared by other artisans.
“The local artisans willingly prepare art pieces for the vising distinguished guests. Besides satisfying the sense of hospitality it also brings a global recognition of their arts,” said Padma Shri Dr Rajni Kant, an GI expert and director of HWA.
