The Mukteshwar Dance Festival, organized by the Orissa Language, Literature and Culture Department, Bhubaneswar in collaboration with the Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi, which took place recently, was an experience in itself for two reasons. First and foremost it was the architectural marvel of the 10th-century Mukteshwar Temple, which is regarded as a gem of Orissa architecture, and secondly, it was the first major festival dedicated exclusively to Odissi dance, consisting of solo, Duets and new choreography were performed. group format.
Designed to provide a platform for established and young dancers, the festival has played a significant 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, the Mukteshwar Dance Festival was conceived and conducted by the then Director of Culture, Government of Odisha, Subas Pani, author, scholar, doing research on Jayadeva and Jagannath.
The first edition featured Odissi artistes Sanjukta Panigrahi and Kumkum Mohanty, who performed to Guru Pankaj Charan Das and Guru Gangadhar Pradhan’s new choreography ‘Usha-Vilas’. Similarly, Gita Govinda was choreographed by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, which speaks to the high standards of this festival for Odissi dance.
Carved archway of Mukteshwar temple. , Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives
Beautiful site, housed in one of the richest architectural sculptural treasures of Odisha’s cultural heritage, the Mukteshwar Temple represents an evolved phase of the Kalinga style of architecture, with an exquisite gateway of carved torana (a semicircular arch) flanked by two ornate pillars and a Eight- lotus petals are carved inside the ceiling, which is not found in any other temple in Odisha. The walls of the temple are decorated with many beautiful sculptures as well as stories from the Panchatantra.
The temple complex has an ancient sundial and several small votive shrines on its side. In front of the main temple is the Parshurameshwar temple. Immediately to its north is the Siddheshvara temple, where Ganesha, dressed in vermilion, is the side-deity. To the south are the temples of Gauri and Kedareshwar. Perhaps only a few know that every year the presiding deity of this temple-town, Lord Lingaraja, comes to the Gauri temple for a ceremonial marriage with his divine consort.
Mukteshwar festival from 2023. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
As per the tradition, the festival started with the lighting of lamps on all the three days. The spiritual fervor of the Shaiva shrine was further enhanced with group singing of Shiva-Vandana, accompanied by sitar, glut, violin, mandala and manjira, preceded by solo, duet and group Odissi dance performances every evening.
Himanshu Kumar Ray and Diptiranjan Baral performing on the concluding day of the three-day Mukteshwar Festival, 2023. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The concluding evening saw a duet performance of ‘Katha Mardal’ by the young duo Himanshu Kumar Ray and Diptiranjan Baral. It was one of the commendable new choreographies presented in this year’s productions. Conceived and written by Srinivas Ghatuari and Kedar Mishra, with rhythmic inputs by Guru Dhaneshwar Swain and choreographed by Guru Aruna Mohanty, it traced the story of Mardal from her tribal origins to her folk and classical stature. He began his evening performance with ‘Rudra Mandala’, which describes the presiding deity of Ekam Peetha Shiva in three forms Rudra, Mahakala and Nataraja.
The gradual evolution of the versatile instrument also covered various stages as it was accompanied by maharishis (temple dancers), gotipuas, and classical Odissi dancers and singers composing verses, singing, and then playing in different castes such as the Tisra, Chatusra goes. , by Khanda, Mishra and narrow guru Dhaneshwar Swain. The duet performance started with two dancers worshiping Mardal and then one of them playing percussion instruments and the other dancing with Manjeera, took the story to thrilling heights.
The inaugural evening began with an invocation of Shiva by Mahendra Kumar Acharya and group, before Bengaluru’s Sarita Mishra presented her solo song to Lord Shiva. His acting piece ‘Ganga’ was about patit-pavani, mukti-karini, moksha-dayini Ganga, the holy river.
Gayatri Ranbir and Saurabh Mohanty (duet performance) started with a raga-meditation shloka with pallavi in Shuddh Desi and then a short dance-drama ‘Pasani’ with appropriate music by Sukant Kumar Kundu, rhythm and dance choreography by Guru Dhaneshwar Swain Ahilya’ Guru Durga Charan Ranbir.
The inaugural evening concluded with a group performance by the students of Utkal Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya. He presented Pancha-Deva-Stuti on Pancha-Maha-Bhootha, Gauti Pallavi, and ‘Braje Basantam’ based on Adi Shankara’s Chaurashtakam in Ragamalika and Taalmalika. This acting part also includes ‘Shabd-Swara-Path’ and Kalia-Daman-Leela.
Prafulla Chandra Behera and group from Cuttack started the evening program of the second day with Odia prayer. The solo Odissi was performed by Harekrishna Dhal, invoking the cosmic dancer Nataraja. ‘Bali-moksha’ explores a new interpretation of Bali-vadha. Conceived, written and voice-over by Srinivas Ghatuari, here Bali is not killed, but is granted moksha or ‘salvation’ by Rama.
Trained under Guru Sujata Mohapatra, the duet of Trilochan Sahu and Prashanti Jena presented Hamsadhwani Pallavi and Dashavatar set to Raag Mohana and Taal Jhumpa. Guru Kasturi Patnaik and ‘Sankalp’ Delhi’s group performance included ‘Uma-Maheshwara Stotram, Patdeep Pallavi, and Abhinaya on the popular Oriya song ‘Mare Bano/Dhara Shravan Ki…’, which culminated in ‘Nirvana’, ‘Moksha’ happened to!
The concluding evening was followed by Shiv-Panchakshara-Stotra performed by Nimkant Routray and group, followed by solo recital ‘Nandika-Kesari’ composed by Guru Sikata Das for Ragamalika and Taalmalika. This one-dance play was based on the Odia play of the same name written by his father, the renowned playwright Manoranjan Das.
Sikta Das performing her single ‘Nandika-Kesari’ at Mukteshwar Festival, 2023. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The Mukteshwar Dance Festival concluded with a rendition of ‘Shiva Tandava Stotra’ and Shankarabharan Pallavi by Ratikant Mohapatra’s Srijan Ensemble. ‘Nandika Kesari’, performed by veteran Odissi exponent Guru Sikata Das as a solo dance drama, and his new choreography ‘Vande Suryam’ by Guru Ratikanta Mohapatra, performed by the dancers of Srijan Ensemble, were also part of the festival.
Sanskrit lyrics for the new piece Pt. were written by Nityanand Mishra. The well-researched and professional standard of eloquent anchoring by Srinivas Ghatuari in Oriya and Ms. Sanhati Pani in English needs a special mention for their effortless ease!