Abhinay Chandrika In English

Abhinay Chandrika In English

Abhinay Chandrika

• Abhinaya Chandrika is an ancient Indian text on Odissi dance. It was written by Maheswara Mohapatra in the 15th century under the royal patronage of Sriman Narayan Dev of the Kingdom of Khemundi.
• There are 284 verses in this text. The first two verses are in praise of Ganapati and Lord Jagannatha. Till stanza 18, the author describes the dance context and then he describes the origin of Odissi dance.
• The author has vividly described the foot postures of Odissi dance. This text is one of the most important of the ancient texts on the performing arts as it gives a detailed description of the rhythm, costume, jewelery and makeup in Odissi dance.
• In fact, the costumes prescribed in the Abhinaya Chandrika are followed by the maharishis or devadasis of the Jagannath temple.
• The ornaments prescribed in Abhinaya Chandrika are all traditional and most of them are depicted in the temple sculpture of Orissa. Today’s Maharishi’s jewelery is influenced by South.
• The verses of the famous treatise Abhinaya Chandrika state that Lord Shiva taught the ancient art of dance to his son Lord Ganesha and Ganesha to Ratna Rambha, one of the Apsaras, who in turn taught it to sage Bharata Muni.
• Abhinaya Chandrika is one of the earliest and most authentic texts on Odissi dance. According to the scholars, today’s Odissi dance is dependent on this book.