History of Odissi Dance In English

Odissi Dance In English

Odissi

• Odissi is a classical dance form from the Indian state of Odisha. Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra re-expanded it in recent times.
• Odissi dance is considered to be one of the oldest surviving dance forms based on archaeological evidence.
• It originated from the dance of the Devadasis who danced in the temple. Odissi dance is mentioned in the inscriptions. This is depicted in the inscriptions of the Brahmeshwar temple.
• Odissi, also known as Orissi in older literature, is a major ancient Indian classical dance that originated in the Hindu temples of Odisha, an eastern coastal state of India.
• Odissi, throughout its history, was primarily performed by women and expressed religious stories particularly Vaishnavism (Vishnu as Jagannath) and spiritual ideas.
• The theoretical foundation of Odissi comes from the ancient Sanskrit text Natya Shastra. Evidence of Odissi in dance is found in Hindu temple sculptures and archaeological sites related to Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.
• Odissi is traditionally a dance-drama style of performing arts. Odissi is learned and performed as a combination of a basic dance form called Bhangona.

History

• The foundations of Odissi are found in the ancient Hindu Sanskrit performing arts text of Natyashastra. Among the dance units mentioned in Natyashastra, 108 dance units point towards Odissi only. Bharat Muni is the author of Natya Shastra.
• More direct historical evidence of dance and music as an ancient performance art form is found in archaeological sites such as the cave carvings and temples of Bhubaneswar, Konark and Puri.
• The Manchapuri cave at Udayagiri shows fine carvings of dance and musicians, and appears to date to the time of the Jain king Kharavela in the 1st or 2nd century BCE.
• The musical tradition of Odisha also has ancient roots. Archaeologists have also found evidence of musical tradition in Odisha dating back to around 1000 BC.

Medieval Era

• Hindu, Jain and Buddhist archaeological sites in the state of Odisha, especially in the hills ranges, show several inscriptions and carvings dating from the 6th to the 9th century AD of this dance.
• Important sites include the Ranigumpha at Udayagiri and various caves and temples at the Lalitgiri, Ratnagiri and Alatgiri sites.
• According to Jainism’s Kalpasutra Kapila Vatsyayana, manuscripts discovered in Gujarat include classical Indian dance postures such as samapada, tribhangi and Odissi.
• Hindu dance texts such as the Abhinava Chandrika and the Abhinaya Darpana provide detailed descriptions of the movements of the feet, hands, standing postures, movements and dance performances.
• Similarly the illustrated Hindu text on the temple architecture of Odisha, Shilprakasa, deals with Odia architecture and sculpture, and also includes Odissi seals.
• Many of the sculptures that have survived to the modern era and in Odia temples date back to the 10th to 14th centuries and depict Odissi dance.
• This is evidenced in the Jagannath temple of Puri and other temples of Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism and Vedic deities in Odisha.
• Konark Sun Temple and Brahmeswara Temple in Bhubaneswar have many sculptures of dancers and musicians, which are related to Odissi.
• Mughal and British period
• After the 12th century, the eastern Indian subcontinent saw waves of attacks and ransacking by Muslim armies of Odisha’s temples, monasteries and nearby institutions such as Pusagiri, an upheaval that affected all arts and performance artists. destroys the freedom previously enjoyed by
• For example, official records of Sultan Firoz Shah Tughlaq’s invasion of Odisha, describing the destruction of the Jagannath temple as well as many other temples, the placement of dancing idols and the desecration of dance halls, date to this time.
• This led to a widespread decline of Odissi and other religious arts, but there were some benevolent rulers in this period who supported the arts, especially through performances in the courts.
• During the Sultanate and Mughal periods of India, temple dancers were taken to entertain the sultan’s family and court.

After Independence

• Temple dance bans and cultural discrimination during colonial rule sparked a movement by Hindus to question stereotypes and revive India’s regional arts, including Odissi.
• These efforts saw a period of renaissance and reconstruction in classical Indian dances, which gained momentum especially after Indians gained their independence from colonialism.
• Odissi, along with several other major Indian dances, gained recognition in the 1950s following the efforts of several scholars and artists, most notably Kavichandra Kalicharan Pattanaik, an Oriya poet, dramatist and researcher.