With an aim to revive the languishing card game Ganjapa, hordes of artists and intellectuals have proposed to declare the traditional game as a heritage game. The suggestion came at a two-day Ganjapa workshop organized by the Puri Creative Handicraft Cooperative Society here on Sunday.
Persons associated with painting and Ganjapa gathered to find out a way for the revival of the game. Once adored by royal household and later gaining popularity among the common masses, Ganjapa has now a few takers in the society. Eminent researcher Dr Tulashi Ojha, former District Culture Officer Prafulla Samataray and Assistant Director (Handicraft) Subhash Pattnaik also shared the same concern.
Besides, two distinguished Ganjapa artists, Jayadeb Moaharana and Banamali Mohapatra, both from Raghurajpur, were felicitated on the occasion. Bhagaban Swain of Parampara in Raghurajpur and Dr Gunanidhi Mohapatra spoke on different aspects and rules of the game.
A tournament along with a basic training programme on the game was organized among the players, which is a part of a study on revival prospect of the game assigned by the Handicraft Development Commissioner, Government of India. DIC GM Dibyasingha Mishra inaugurated the workshop while Debi Prasanna Nanda presided over it.