Odissi ( ଓଡ଼ିଶୀ) also referred to as Orissi in old literature, oldest surviving classical dance of India, is a major ancient Indian classical dance that originated in the Hindu temple of Odisha – an eastern coastal state of India.[ Odissi Encyclopædia Britannica (2013)][, Quote: "There are other temples too in Odisha where the maharis used to dance. Besides the temple of Lord Jagannatha, maharis were employed in temples dedicated to Shiva and Shakti."]
The theoretical foundations of Odissi trace to the ancient Sanskrit text Natya Shastra, its existence in antiquity evidenced by the dance poses in the sculptures of Kalingan temples,[, Quote: The art of dance and maasic suffered on account of political instability, the Muslim invasion, the desecration of the temples and the loss of independence, the lack of patronage to both the maharis and the gotipua dancers..."] It was suppressed under British Rule.
Odissi is traditionally a dance-drama genre of performance art, where the artist(s) and musicians play out a story, a spiritual message or devotional poem from the Hindu texts, using symbolic costumes,[
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Traditional Odissi exists in two major styles, the first perfected by women and focussed on solemn, Mahari dance; the second perfected by Gotipua
Odissi was the only Indian dance form present in Michael Jackson's 1991 hit single "Black or White".
History of Odissi
The foundations of Odissi are found in Natya Shastra, the ancient Hindu Sanskrit text of performance arts.[; Also see chapter 36] The Natya Shastra refers to four pravrittis (methods of expressive delivery) in vogue – Avanti, Dakshinatya, Panchali and Odra-Magadhi; of these, the Odra refers to Odisha.
More direct historical evidence of dance and music as an ancient performance art are found in archaeological sites such as caves and in temple carvings of Bhubaneswar, Konark and Puri.[Benudhar Patra (2008), Merchants, Guilds and Trade in Ancient India: An Odishan Perspective, Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Volume 89, pages 133-168]
(he the) versed in the science of the Gandharvas (i.e., music), entertains the capital with the exhibition of dapa, dancing, singing and instrumental music and by causing to be held festivities and assemblies (samajas)...
— Hathigumpha inscription, Line 5, ~ 2nd–1st century BCE[ Hathigumpha inscription South Dakota State University, Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XX (1929–30)][J. F. Fleet (1910), The Hathigumpha Inscription, The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, (Jul. 1910), Cambridge University Press, pages 824–828]
The classical music tradition of Odisha, known as Odissi music, also has ancient roots. Archeologists have reported the discovery of 20-key, carefully shaped polished basalt lithophone in Sankarjang, the highlands of Odisha, which is dated to about 1000 BCE.
Medieval era
The Hindu, Jain and Buddhist archaeological sites in Odisha state, particularly the Assia range of hills show inscriptions and carvings of dances that are dated to the 6th to 9th century CE. Important sites include the Ranigumpha in Udaygiri, and various caves and temples at Lalitgiri, Ratnagiri and Alatgiri sites. The Buddhist icons, for example, are depicted as dancing gods and goddesses, with Heruka, Vajravarahi, and Marichi in Odissi-like postures.[DB Mishra (2006), Orissan Inscriptions Odisha Review] Historical evidence, states Alexandra Carter, shows that Odissi Maharis (Hindu temple dancers) and dance halls architecture ( nata-mandapa) were in vogue at least by the 9th century CE.
According to Kapila Vatsyayan, the Kalpasutra of Jainism, in its manuscripts discovered in Gujarat, includes classical Indian dance poses – such as the Samapada, the Tribhangi and the Chauka of Odissi. This, states Vatsyayan, suggests that Odissi was admired or at least well known in distant parts of India, far from Odisha in the medieval era, to be included in the margins of an important Jain text.
Actual sculptures that have survived into the modern era and panel in Odia temples, dated to be from the 10th to 14th century, show Odissi dance. This is evidenced in Jagannatha temple in Puri, as well as other temples of Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism and Vedic deities such as Surya (Sun) in Odisha.
The composition of the poetic texts by 8th century Shankaracharya and particularly of divine love inspired Gitagovinda by 12th century Jayadeva influenced the focus and growth of modern Odissi.
Mughal and British period
After 12th-century, Odia temples, monasteries and nearby institutions such as the Puspagiri in the eastern Indian subcontinent came under waves of attacks and ransacking by Muslim armies, a turmoil that impacted all arts and eroded the freedoms previously enjoyed by performance artists.
The Odissi dance likely expanded in the 17th century, states Alexandra Carter, under King Ramachandradeva's patronage.[ This expansion integrated martial arts ( akhanda) and athletics into Odissi dance, by engaging boys and youth called Gotipuas, as a means to physically train the young for the military and to resist foreign invasions.]
During the British Raj, the officials of the colonial government ridiculed the temple traditions, while Christian missionaries launched a sustained attack on the moral outrage of sensuousness of Odissi and other Hindu temple dance arts.
Christian missionaries launched the "anti-dance movement" in 1892, to ban all such dance forms.[ The dancers were frequently stigmatized as prostitutes by Europeans during the British India.][
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Post-independence
The temple dance ban and cultural discrimination during colonial rule marshalled a movement by Hindus to question the stereotypes and to revive the regional arts of India, including Odissi.
Odissi, along with several other major Indian dances gained recognition after efforts by many scholars and performers in the 1950s, particularly by Kavichandra Kalicharan Pattanayak, an Oriya poet, dramatist and researcher. Pattanayak is also credited with naming the dance form as "Odissi".
Repertoire
Odissi, in the classical and medieval period has been, a team dance founded on Hindu texts.[ In the Indian tradition, many of the accomplished gotipuas became the (teachers) in their adulthood.][ Modern Odissi is a diversified performance art, men have joined the women, and its reconstruction since the 1950s have added new plays and aspects of other Indian dances.
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Love is a universal theme and one of the paradigmatic values in Indian religions. This theme is expressed through sensuous love poems and metaphors of sexual union in Krishna-related literature, and as longing eros ( Shringara) in its dance arts such as in Odissi, from the early times.[
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The traditional Odissi repertoire, like all classical Indian dances, includes Nritta (pure dance, solo), Nritya (dance with emotions, solo) and Natya (dramatic dance, group).
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The Nritta performance is abstract, fast and rhythmic aspect of the dance.
[ The viewer is presented with pure movement in Nritta, wherein the emphasis is the beauty in motion, form, speed, range and pattern. This part of the repertoire has no interpretative aspect, no telling of story. It is a technical performance, and aims to engage the senses (prakriti) of the audience.]
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The Nritya is slower and expressive aspect of the dance that attempts to communicate feelings, storyline particularly with spiritual themes in Hindu dance traditions.
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The Natyam is a play, typically a team performance, but can be acted out by a solo performer where the dancer uses certain standardized body movements to indicate a new character in the underlying story. A Natya incorporates the elements of a Nritya.
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The Mokshya is a climatic pure dance of Odissi, aiming to highlight the liberation of soul and serenity in the spiritual.
Odissi dance recitals are in Odia and Sanskrit language and the music strictly follows ragas and talas of the Odissi music tradition.
Sequence
Traditional Odissi repertoire sequence starts with an invocation called Mangalacharana.
The next sequential step in an Odissi performance is Batu, also known as Battu Nrutya or Sthayee Nrutya or Batuka Bhairava.
The nritya follows next, and consists of Abhinaya, or an expressional dance which is an enactment of a song or poetry.
The natya part, or dance drama, is next in sequence. Usually Hindu mythologies, epics and legendary dramas are chosen as themes.
A distinctive part of the Odissi tradition is the inclusion of Moksha (or Mokshya[) finale in the performance sequence. This is the concluding item of a recital.][ Movement and pose merge in a fast pace pure dance climax.]
Basic moves and mudras
The basic unit of Odissi are called bhangas. These are made up of eight belis, or body positions and movements, combined in many varieties. Motion is uthas (rising or up), baithas (sitting or down) or sthankas (standing). The gaits or movement on the dance floor is called chaalis, with movement tempo linked to emotions according to the classical Sanskrit texts. Thus, for example, burhas or quick pace suggest excitement, while a slow confused pace suggests dejection. For aesthetics, movement is centered on a core, a point in space or floor, and each dancer has her imaginary square of space, with spins and expression held within it. The foot movement or pada bhedas too have basic dance units, and Odissi has six of these, in contrast to four found in most classical Indian dances.
The three primary dance positions in Odissi are:
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Chouka – the square position, with weight equally placed on the two legs in a squatting position, spine straight, arms raised up with elbows bent.
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Abhanga – the body weight shifts to one foot, while the feet and knees are kept forward in a standing position, one hip extending sideways and torso deflected away from supporting leg.
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Tribhanga – is an S-shaped three-fold bending of body, with torso deflecting in one direction while the head and hips deflecting in the opposite direction of torso. Further, the hands and legs frame the body into a composite of two squares (rectangle), providing an aesthetic frame of reference. This is described in the ancient Sanskrit texts, and forms of it are found in other Hindu dance arts, but tribhanga postures developed most in and are distinctive to Odissi, and they are found in historic Hindu temple reliefs.
Mudras or Hastas are hand gestures which are used to express the meaning of a given act.
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Asamyukta Hasta – Single hand Mudras – 28 Prakar (gestures, for instance to communicate a salute, prayer, embrace, energy, bond, swing, carriage, shell, arrow, holding a thing, wheel, and so on.)
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Samyukta Hasta – Double hand Mudras – 24 Prakar (gestures, for instance to indicate a flag, flower, type of bird or animal, moon, action like grasping, and so on.)
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Nritya Hasta – “Pure Dance” Mudras
The Mudra system is derived from the "Abhinaya Darpana" by Nandikeshavara and the ancient Natya Shastra of Bharata Muni.
Costumes
The Odissi dancers are colorfully dressed with makeup and jewellery. The saree worn by Odissi dancers are brightly coloured, and usually of local silk ( Pattasari).[ These saris have traditional prints of Odisha with regional designs and embellishments, and may be the Sambalpuri saree and Bomkai.
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The jewellery includes silver pieces, a metal favored in regional tradition.[ or a reed crown called mukoot with peacock feathers (symbolism for Krishna). The dancers forehead is marked with Tilaka, and adorned with various jewelry such as the allaka (head piece on which the tikka hangs). The eyes are ringed with kajal (black eyeliner).]
Ear covers called kapa or ear rings decorate the sides of the head, while necklace adorns the neck. The dancer wears a pair of armlets also called bahichudi or bajuband, on the upper arm. The wrist is covered with kankana (bangles).[ The dancer's palms and soles may be painted with red coloured dye called the alta.]
Modern Odissi male performers wear dhoti – a broadcloth tied around waist, pleated for movement, and tucked between legs; usually extends to knee or lower. Upper body is bare chested, and a long thin folded translucent sheet wrapping over one shoulder and usually tucked below a wide belt.
Music and instruments
Odissi dance is accompanied by the traditional classical music of the state of Odisha, Orissi music. Rooted in the ancient ritual music tradition dedicated to Lord , Odissi music has a rich history spanning over two thousand years, distinguished by its unique sangita-shastras (musical treatises), a specialized system of Ragas and Talas, and a distinctive style of performance characterised by the andolita gamaka. The primary Odissi mela ragas are Kalyana, Nata, Sri, Baradi, Gouri, Panchama, Dhanasri, Karnata, Bhairabi and Sokabaradi.
Odissi dance, states Ragini Devi, is a form of "visualized music", wherein the and Raginis, respectively the primary and secondary musical modes, are integrated by the musicians and interpreted through the dancer. Each note is a means, has a purpose and with a mood in classical Indian music, which Odissi accompanies to express sentiments in a song through Parija. This is true whether the performance is formal, or less formal as in Nartana and Natangi used during festive occasions and the folksy celebration of life.
Like most Indian dance forms, an Odissi troupe performs with the accompaniment of a musical ensemble. The mini-orchestra consists of a number of instruments, often varying slightly by region; the ubiquitous tanpura
Styles
The Odissi tradition existed in three schools: Mahari, Nartaki, and Gotipua:
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Maharis were Odia or temple girls, their name deriving from Maha (great) and Nari (girl), or Mahri (chosen) particularly those at the temple of Jagganath at Puri. Early Maharis performed Nritta (pure dance) and Abhinaya (interpretation of poetry) dedicated to various Hindu gods and goddesses, as well as Puranic mythologies and Vedic legends.
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Gotipuas were boys dressed up as girls and taught the dance by the Maharis. This style included martial arts, athletics and acrobatics. Gotipuas danced to these compositions outside the temples and fairgrounds as folksy entertainment.
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Nartaki dance took place in the royal courts, where it was prevalent before the British period.
[Alessandra Lopez y Royo, "The reinvention of odissi classical dance as a temple ritual," published in The Archaeology of Ritual ed. Evangelos Kyriakidis, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA 2007]
Schools, training and recognition
Odissi maestros and performers
Kelucharan Mohapatra, Pankaj Charan Das, Deba Prasad Das and Raghunath Dutta were the four major gurus who revived Odissi in the late forties and early fifties. Sanjukta Panigrahi was a leading disciple of Kelucharan Mohapatra who popularized Odissi by performing in India and abroad. In the mid-sixties, three other disciples of Kelucharan Mohapatra, Kumkum Mohanty and Sonal Mansingh, were known for their performances in India and abroad. Some other notable disciples include, Debi Basu, Jhelum Paranjape, Shubhada Varadkar, Daksha Mashruwala and Nandita Behera. Laximipriya Mohapatra performed a piece of Odissi abhinaya in the Annapurna Theatre in Cuttack in 1948, a show upheld as the first classical Odissi dance performance after its contemporary revival.[Kaktikar, A. Odissi Yaatra: The Journey of Guru Mayadhar Raut. Delhi: B. R. Rhythms. 2010. .]
Schools
IIT Bhubaneswar
Odissi has been included in Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar's BTech syllabus since 2015 as the first Indian national technical institute to introduce any classical dance in syllabus.
In Guinness World records
Guinness World Records has acknowledged the feat of the largest congregation of Odissi dancers in a single event. 555 Odissi dancers performed at the event hosted on 23 December 2011, in the Kalinga stadium, Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The dancers performed the mangalacharana, Battu, Pallavi, Abhinaya and Mokshya dance items from the Odissi repertoire.
More than 1000 Odissi dancers performed at the World Cultural Festival
Odissi Centre at Oxford University
An Odissi dance centre has been opened from January 2016, at the University of Oxford.
Beside holding regular Odissi dance classes at its institution, the Oxford Odissi Centre also conducts Odissi dance workshops at other academic institutions in the United Kingdom.
See also
Bibliography
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Odissi : What, Why and How… Evolution, Revival and Technique, by Madhumita Raut. Published by B. R. Rhythms, Delhi, 2007. .
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Odissi Yaatra: The Journey of Guru Mayadhar Raut, by Aadya Kaktikar (ed. Madhumita Raut). Published by B. R. Rhythms, Delhi, 2010. .
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Odissi Dance, by Dhirendranath Patnaik. Published by Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi, 1971.
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Odissi – The Dance Divine, by Ranjana Gauhar and Dushyant Parasher. Published by Niyogi Books, 2007. .
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Odissi, Indian Classical Dance Art: Odisi Nritya, by Sunil Kothari, Avinash Pasricha. Marg Publications, 1990. .
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Perspectives on Odissi Theatre, by Ramesh Prasad Panigrahi, Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi. Published by Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi, 1998.
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Abhinaya-chandrika and Odissi dance, by Maheshwar Mahapatra, Alekha Chandra Sarangi, Sushama Kulshreshthaa, Maya Das. Published by Eastern Book Linkers, 2001. .
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Rethinking Odissi, by Dinanath Pathy. Published by Harman Pub. House, 2007. .
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