Sanjukta Panigrahi Biography In English Life Story 1944-1997

Sanjukta Panigrahi Biography In English

• Sanjukta Panigrahi was a dancer from India, who was a leading exponent of the Indian classical dance Odissi.
• Sanjukta was the first Odia woman to take up this ancient classical dance at a young age and ensured its grand revival.
• Apart from presenting Odissi performances in different parts of India, Samyukta Panigrahi has been part of government cultural delegations to various countries including America and Philippines (1969), United Kingdom (1983), Israel, Delphi International Festival in Greece. (1989). She has also performed in France for eleven weeks, and participated in the International Music Festival in Paris.

Birth Details –

Place- Berhampur, Ganjam District, Odisha

Date of Birth – 24 August 1944

Marital Status: Married

Nationality -Indian

Family –

Mother- Shakuntala Mishra

Father- Abhiram Mishra

Husband – Raghunath Panigrahi

Teacher – Kelucharan Mohapatra

Early Life And Background

• Panigrahi was born in Berhampur, Ganjam district, Odisha state to Abhiram Mishra and Shakuntala Mishra in a traditional Brahmin family.
• When she was a small child, she would instinctively start dancing to any rhythmic sound such as chopping vegetables or chopping firewood.
• His mother was from Baripada and belonged to a family that had been patronizing Chhau folk dance for a long time.
• He recognized the talent in his daughter, and encouraged her despite some initial resistance from Sanjukta’s father, Abhiram Mishra.
• The reason for the resistance was the fact that in those days this form of dance was generally performed by temple dancing girls, who were called Maharishis. PU
• Rusha dancers are called Gotipuas. These girls were like Devadasis in the temples of South India.

Personal Life

• In Kalakshetra, Chennai, she fell in love with Raghunath Panigrahi, who was ten years her senior, and a fine singer of Geetha Govinda, who gave up a promising career in film music in Chennai to provide vocal support in her performances. Was. They were married when she was 16, and in time had two sons.

Training

• At the initiative of his mother, he started learning dance from Kelucharan Mohapatra at the age of four. He was adjudged the Best Child Artist by Bisuba Milan for three consecutive years during 1950–1953.
• In one of her performances as a six-year-old child, she refused to leave the stage and continued to perform energetically after time expired.
• His mother had to shout and coax him to stop dancing. At the age of nine, she performed in the annual festival of Children’s Little Theater in Calcutta.
• He won the first prize at the International Children’s Film Festival in 1952. Encouraged by her success, her parents decided to send her to Kalakshetra in Chennai for better dance training.
• There he continued his lessons under the guidance of Rukmini Devi Arundale. After that, she toured many places in India and abroad, as a member of the ‘Kalakshetra Ballet Troupe’.
• At the age of 14, she returned to Odisha. The state government awarded her a scholarship to learn Kathak from Guru Hazarilal at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai.

Career

• The initial years for Sanjukta and her husband were very challenging, more in terms of earning a living than anything else.
• However things changed for the better when, in 1966, his mentor Sanjukta Panigrahi was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, and he performed Odissi during the award ceremony in New Delhi.
• The audience was mesmerized by his performance. He made his mark at the national level and since then he has not looked back.
• Meanwhile, her husband had grown into a good singer, and she had also started composing music for his performances.

Awards

• 1975 – Padma Shri
• 1976 – Sangeet Natak Akademi Award

Other Information –

Date of Death – 24 June 1997

Place – Bhubaneswar, India

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