Binod Maharana
A Puri artist who has practised and studied Pattachitra painting for 50 years and trained over 300 artists, honoured with the Padma Shri in 2024.
Binod Maharana is a painter of Pattachitra, the traditional cloth painting of Odisha. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2024 in the field of art, from Odisha [1].
A painter’s family
He was born on 3 February 1945 into a family of traditional artists in Chitrakara Sahi, the painters’ quarter of Puri [2]. He learned Pattachitra from his grandfather, Markanda Maharana, and studied fine art with Asit Mukherjee [2].
For some 50 years Maharana studied the art inside old temples and on palm-leaf manuscripts in museums, and drew on them in his own Pattachitra, which covers both mythological and social themes [2].
Teacher
He joined Odisha’s State Institute of Handicraft Training in 1973 and retired in 2003 as its artist superintendent [2]. He has trained more than 300 people in Pattachitra and palm-leaf carving, and since retiring has run a “Sunday school” for young artists in Bhubaneswar [2]. In 1987 he demonstrated palm-leaf carving in Boston, USA [2].
Honours
His awards include the national award of the All India Handicrafts Board (1974), a Viswakarma award presented by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (1983), the Odisha Lalit Kala Akademi award (1983) and the Sarala Puraskar [2]. In 2023 the Odisha government gave him the Rajdhani Gaurav Samman [2].
Sources
- [1] Padma Awards 2024: list of awardees — Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Accessed 15 October 2026.
- [2] Padma Awards 2024: citation for Binod Maharana — Padma Awards, Government of India. Accessed 15 October 2026.
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