Reported By Insha Zarine Sayeed and Kanhu Charan Gouda
Bhubaneswar, Sept 5: Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan (BVB), Bhubaneswar in collaboration with the Infosys Foundation, Bengaluru, has taken the initiative to revive the rich cultural heritage of the state of Odisha by conducting the outreach cultural evenings on a regular basis on the first and third Monday evening of every month at its Kharvel Nagar Campus.
With the advent of technological revolution and modernization, it has been observed that focus on ancient art and culture of our country is gradually dwindling and has the threat of extinction. This endeavor of Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan will go a long way in bringing resurgence to the traditional folk arts of the state and preserve the same.
As a part of the Institutional Society Responsibility, all the faculty members, staff and students of Bhavan’s B-School, “Bhavan Centre for Communication and Management” take keen interest in organizing these cultural evenings professionally.
The outreach cultural programme was inaugurated on 23rd May 2016, on Ghoda Nacha, followed by String Puppet Show on 6th June 2016 having Mr. Manoranjan Panigrahy, IRS, Principal Secretary, Culture and Public Relation, Government of Odisha as the Chief Guest. This was followed by Bharat Leela on the 20th of June 2016, Ravana Chhaya on 4th July 2016, Gahano on 18th July 2016, Pala on 1st August 2016 and Kalia Kela perfoemd by Rangaloko on 16th August 2016. The eight programme in the series is Gotipua Nata.
In the beginning of the show, Dr. Manmanth Satpathy, Associate Director Culture, BVB, Bhubaneswar, mentioned about the importance of the event.
The incomparable richness of our traditional and folk dances has epitomized the essence of socio-cultural and religious life of the people of Odisha. One such traditional dance is Gotipua Dance which had contributed immensely for bringing in Odissi and establishing it as one of the most lyrical and classical dances of India.
In the process of evolution from Mahari or Devdasi service attached to Lord Jagannath, this Gotipua dance with its spiritual essence has been enriched by basic elements and nuances of Mahari Dance. Later, as an inevitable ritualistic service of Lord Jagannath and other gods in different fairs and festivals like Jhulan Yatra, Chandan Yatra and Holi etc, this dance has been kept alive.
Though treated as a precursor to Odisha dance it has retained its own identity in the profile of performing arts of Orissa. Literally Gotipua means single boy. The dance of a boy dressed in female garbs and costumes is called Gotipua Dance. The Vaishnavas in spired by the philosophy of Chaitanya preached and practiced the cult of Sakshi Bhava , meaning, offering one’s own self of Krishna as a female attendant, and popularized this Gotipua dance through dancing on the compositions of medieval poets dedicated to Lord Krishna and His play (Leela).
The Gotipua’s from the age of 5 to 6 stay at the Gurukul, learn and practice the dance under the direct and constant supervision of their Guru. They lead a life of rigorous training and exercise to make themselves fit for singing, dancing and Bandha Nritya, acrobatics dance by difficult and intricate poses of the body with suppling of various limbs.
Major Gen. Basant Kumar Mahapatra, Chairman, BVB, Dr S.K. Tamotia, Vice-Chairman, BVB, Sri Ananta Mahapatra, Advisor Culture, BVB and Major Anupam Chatterjee, Director Culture, BVB of Bhubaneswar Kendra were the distinguished personalities present in this cultural evening. There was a large gathering including members of press and media, special invitees and the public.
The programme made the audience spell bound and it was highly appreciated.
