Sonepur: The message, ‘Yoga is Life’, in 10 languages, including Odia, Hindi, English and Urdu, along with 12 poses of Surya Namaskar intricately weaved into a Sambalpuri Bandha Saree from Odisha is grabbing headlines on International Yoga Day again.
The magical hands of Tripurari Meher of Kendupali village under Birmaharajpur block in Sonepur district have spun this enchanting weave. The saree designed by eminent weaver Prafulla Meher, who currently works as a supervisor at the Director of Textiles’ regional office in Sambalpur, had also won a state award after being adjudged first among the entries in 2015-16.
Tripurari said that it took him three months to ready the first saree, which has been priced at Rs 25,000.
He is being assisted by his father Jagannath Meher, wife Jayanti Meher and young weaver Rajkumar Meher of the village.
“We wove it for Yoga Day and people are appreciating the saree,” said his wife.
This saree is also on display at Kaalabhoomi in Bhubaneswar.
Speaking to Odisha Bytes, Prafulla Meher said that he was approached by Tripurari and his father for an exclusive design. “After much deliberation, we decided on Yoga as the theme since people from across India can relate to it. My daughter helped with the 10 languages – Odia, Hindi, English, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, Punjabi, Marathi and Gujarati – in which the message was woven on the saree,” he said.
Prafulla Meher further said that he had advised them to continue weaving the saree as there is a market for it.
