Timings
The Devrai Art Village remains open from 9 in the morning to 8 in the evening. It takes a couple of minutes to reach the village from Panchgani. Being an early riser, I had breakfast at the hotel and left for the Village shortly. It was almost a child-like excitement that I experienced since it was the first time I was visiting the Devrai Art Village.
Founder
The founder of this one-of-a-kind art village is Mandakini Mathur. She founded the village in 2008 along with her husband Atul Mathur. The concept evolved when Mandakini Mathur met Suresh Pungati, an Adivasi who was a talented artist as well as a teacher and a National Award winner. The project commenced with only five craftsmen.
Special facts
Name: The name Devrai means ‘sacred village.’
What it offers: A unique product range with a distinctive style combining iron, fabric, bamboo, stone and wood made by Adivasi craftsmen.
Training: There is a centre to help the craftsmen share their expertise with students, locals and apprentices. As an artist, it was a treat to watch the Adivasis interact with the students while they were designing abstract Ganeshas!
Locals: I had an opportunity to interact with the locals and they invited me to their charming huts and allowed me to watch them work! They even let me extend a hand, and I was thrilled. I got to see how they transformed the raw material into a rare work of art. The Adivasis have also been trained on the marketing of their goods and it was wonderful to see their enthusiasm when it came to selling their wares.
Umbar Tree: I looked at the iconic Umbar tree and understood why it has been the inspiration for the Devrai Art Village. It had numerous branches symbolic of the spread of art and culture among the Adivasis.
Devrai Rock Dokra
This is the speciality of the Devrai Art Village. It is here that stone and metal have been merged to give birth to this unique form of art, Rock Dokra. I gave the artists my specifications and the end result was unbelievable!
Gift Shop
People spoilt for choice at the gift shop which had rare artefacts made with the traditional Dokra and stone. Prices start from Rs. 2500/- for the gifts.
Art Pieces: They decided to pick up some art pieces for my mantelpiece as well as some very useful items for everyday use like spoons also made from the Dokra-stone combination.
Paintings: There are some finely crafted dokra-stone designs in the paintings.
Pendants: The pedants depicted Adivasis and nature themes.
