VISHVENDU JAIPURIAR
Hazaribag, Sept 28: 2014-batch IAS officer Nancy Sahay, who is presently the deputy commissioner of Hazaribagh, has decided to popularise the famous Sohrai art from here.
In her first major step in this regard, she hired three women Sohrai artists to paint the walls of the three-storied Collectorate building. The work which ended in around 20 days made this government building beautiful turning it into a selfie point.
Talking to lagatar24.com, Sahay said Sohrai is famous art of Hazaribagh but still needed attention to popularise it more. She said she picked Collectorate for this purpose as not only people of the district but of other places to states coming here. Even many important meetings taking place involving other states people to officers. So, by getting the walls of the Collectorate painted with Sohrai, I want to bring this ancient art in eyes of them.
The three popular Sohrai artists who painted the Collectorate walls are Rukmani Devi, Sushma Devi and Babita Devi. Trio expressed their happiness for getting this opportunity and thanked Sahay for this. The trio had not only painted the walls of the building but pillars too. The pillars near the entrance to the walls along the stairs are enough to make visitors stop and click selfies.
Sahay said she knows about the campaign taken up by the then DC Mukesh Kumar and CRPF commandant Munna Kumar Singh in Hazaribag a few years ago. I am knowing about it and planned to take up a similar campaign after the festivals, she added with a smile. “We have started the same work at circuit house too,” she said.
Sohrai is a very popular art of Hazaribag practised in Barkagaon. Artists use a broom or broken comb to paint Sohrai beside colours made from the soil found in Barkagaon. But these days, artists use paint to make Sohrai as per their convenience. Sahay said she has planning to take this art to a bigger stage by popularising it in this way. Those coming to Hazaribag will get a glimpse of this art here, she added before signing off.
