Chaturbhuj Meher is an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

weaver, considered by many as one of the master weavers of the

Tie-dye Tie-dye is a term used to describe a number of resist dyeing techniques and the resulting dyed products of these processes. The process of tie-dye typically consists of folding, twisting, pleating, or crumpling fabric or a garment, before binding ...

handloom tradition of

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

. Born on 13 October 1935 at Sonepur in

, he had formal education only up to school level but learned the traditional weaving craft to join ''Weavers' Service Centre'' as a Weaver. ''Vayan Vihar'', a handloom factory and ''Handloom Research and Training Center'', a research institute in Sonepur have been founded by him and he is known to have trained over 10,000 craftsmen. Aishwarya Rai, former Miss World and

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

actor is reported to have worn one of Meher's

Sonepuri Sari Bomkai sari or Bomkai Saree (also Sonepuri sari) is a handloom saree from Odisha, India. It is an origin of Bomkai village from Ganjam district, however later it is mainly produced by the Bhulia community of Subarnapur district. Bomkai is one of ...

creations on her wedding day, gifted by her mother-in-law,

Jaya Bachchan Jaya Bachchan (''née'' Bhaduri; born 9 April 1948) is an Indian actress and politician. She is a member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha from the Samajwadi Party, serving four terms since 2004. Known primarily for her work in Hindi and Bengali ...

. He is a recipient of the Odisha State Award twice, in 1991 and 1995, as well as awards such as Chinta O Chetana National Award (1992), Viswakarma Rashtriya Puraskar (1997) and Priyadarshini Award (2005). The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

, in 2005, for his contributions to Indian handloom sector.

References

1935 births Living people Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts People from Subarnapur district Indian weavers {{India-artist-stub