Mukteshwar dance festival: Celebrating the spirit of Odissi dance

The Mukteshwar Dance Festival, organised by the Odia Language, Literature & Culture Department, Bhubaneshwar, in association with Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi, that took place recently, was an experience in itself for two reasons. First and foremost was the architectural marvel of the 10th century Mukteshwara Temple, regarded as the gem of Orissan architecture, as its backdrop, and secondly, this was the first major festival exclusively dedicated to Odissi dance, showcasing new choreographies in solo, duet, and group format.

Designed to provide a platform for established and young dancers, the festival has played a vital role in enriching the repertoire of Odissi dance since its inception. Started in the year 1984, as part of the Golden Jubilee of the Odisha State Museum, Mukteshwar Dance Festival was conceived and curated by the then Director of Culture, Government of Odisha, Subas Pani, author, scholar, researching Jayadeva and Jagannath.

The first edition featured Odissi exponents Sanjukta Panigrahi and Kumkum Mohanti, who performed ‘Usha-Vilas’, a new choreography by guru Pankaj Charan Das and Guru Gangadhar Pradhan. Geeta Govinda, likewise, was choreographed by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, which speaks of the high standards this festival has set for Odissi dance.

The beautiful venue, nestled in one of the richest architectural sculptural treasure troves of Odisha’s cultural heritage, Mukteshwar temple represents the developed stage of Kalinga style architecture with its exquisite entrance of carved Toran (a semicircular arch) resting on two ornate pillars and an eight-petalled lotus carved on the inside of the ceiling, a feature not found in any other temple of Odisha. The temple walls are richly decorated with numerous beautiful sculptures as well as stories from the Panchatantra.

The temple premise has an ancient sundial and is flanked by several small votive temples. Across the main temple is the Parsurameswar temple. Immediately to its north is the Siddheshwar temple with the vermillion-smeared Ganesha as the Parshva-Devata. To the south are the temples of Gauri and Kedareshwara. Few, perhaps, know that every year the presiding deity of this temple-town, Lord Lingaraja, comes to the Gauri temple for a ceremonial marriage with his celestial spouse.

As per the tradition the festival commenced, on all three days, with the ceremonial lighting of the lamp. Spiritual fervour of the Shavite shrine was further enhanced with the group rendition of Shiva-Vandana, accompanied by a live orchestra comprising sitar, glute, violin, mandala, and manjira that preceded the solo, duet, and group Odissi dance performances every evening.

‘Katha Mardal’ was presented as a duet, by the young duo Himanshu Kumar Ray and Diptiranjan Baral on the concluding evening. It was one of the commendable new choreographies presented at this year’s presentations. Conceived and scripted by Srinivas Ghatuari and Kedar Mishra, with rhythmic inputs by guru Dhaneshwar Swain and choreographed by guru Aruna Mohanti, it explored the story of Mardal from its tribal origin to folk and the classical stature. They opened their evening performance with ‘Rudra Mandala’, describing the presiding deity of Ekamra Pitha Shiva in three forms Rudra, Mahakala, and Nataraja.

The gradual evolution of the versatile instrument also covered different phases like it’s accompanying the Maharis (the temple dancers), Gotipuas, and classical Odissi dancers and singers with a variety of Chhand composed, recited, and then played in different Jatis such as Tisra, Chatusra, Khanda, Mishra and Sankeerna by guru Dhaneshwar Swain. The duet performance opened with the two dancers worshipping the Mardal and then one of them playing the percussion instrument and the other accompanying Manjira and dancing, taking the story forward to exhilarating heights.

The inaugural evening opened with the invocation to Shiva by Mahendra Kumar Acharya & group, before Sarita Mishra from Bengaluru presented her solo, an ode to Lord Shiva. Her abhinaya piece ‘Ganga’ was about the Patit-Pavani, Mukti-Karini, Moksha-Dayini Ganga, the holy river.

Gayatri Ranabir and Saurabh Mohanti (duet performance) opened with pallavi in Shuddha Desi starting with the Raga-Dhyana shloka and then a short dance-drama ‘Pashani Ahilya’ with appropriate music by Sukant Kumar Kundu, rhythm by Guru Dhaneshwar Swain and dance choreography by guru Durga Charan Ranabir.

The inaugural evening concluded with the group performance by the students of the Utkal University of Culture. They presented Panch-Deva-Stuti on Pancha-Maha-Bhuta, Gaoti Pallavi, and ‘Braje Basantam’ based on the Adi Shankarar’s Chaurashtakam, in Ragamalika and Taalmalika. This Abhinaya piece also incorporated ‘Shabda-Swara-Paath’ and Kaliya-Daman-Leela.

Prafull Chandra Behera and group from Cuttack opened the second day’s evening programme with an Odia prayer. The solo Odissi was presented by Harekrishna Dhall, invoking the cosmic dancer Nataraja. ’Bali-Moksha’, explored a new interpretation of the Bali-Vadha. Conceived, scripted, and voice-over by Srinivasa Ghatuary, here Bali was not slayed but granted salvation or ‘Moksha’ by Rama.

The duet by Trilochan Sahoo and Prashanti Jena, trained under guru Sujata Mohapatra, presented Hamsadhwani pallavi and Dasavatara, set to raag Mohana and taal Jhumpa. The group presentation by guru Kasturi Patnayaka and ‘Sankalp’ Delhi comprised ‘Uma-Maheswara Stotram, Patdeep Pallavi, and Abhinaya on the popular Odia song ”Maare Baano/Dhara Shravana ki…”, concluding with ‘Nirvaan’, the ‘Moksha’!

The Shiva-Panchakshara-Stotra, rendered by Nimkanta Rautray and group on the concluding evening was followed by ‘Nandika-Kesari’, a solo ekaharya abhinaya by guru Sikata Das set to Ragamalika and Taalmalika. This solo dance drama was based on an Odia play of the same name written by her father, the noted dramatist Manoranjan Das.

Mukteshwar Dance Festival concluded with Ratikanta Mohapatra’s Srijan Ensemble presenting ‘Shiva Tandava Stotra’, and Shankarabharana Pallavi. ‘Nandika Kesari’, presented by the senior Odissi exponent guru Sikata Das as a solo dance drama, and their new choreography ‘Vande Suryam’ by guru Ratikant Mohapatra, performed by the dancers of Srijan Ensemble were also part of the festival.

The Sanskrit lyrics for the new piece was written by Pt. Nityananda Mishra. The professional standard of the well-researched and eloquent anchoring by Srinivas Ghatuari in Odia and Sushri Sanhati Pani in English needs special mention for their effortless ease!