## $$%& $ '(') * %#+, -         

  ."      / ! 

 !





0    12           A Quarterly Journal of Indian Dance

Volume: XVIII, No. 3 July-September 2018

Sahrdaya Arts Trust Hyderabad RNI No. APENG2001/04294 ISSN 2455-7250 Nartanam, founded by Kuchipudi Kala Founders Kendra, Mumbai, now owned and Late G. M. Sarma published by Sahrdaya Arts Trust, M. N. Sarma Hyderabad, is a quarterly which provides a forum for scholarly dialogue on a Chief Editor broad range of topics concerning Indian Madhavi Puranam dance. Its concerns are theoretical as well as performative. Textual studies, dance Associate Editor criticism, intellectual and interpretative K. K. Gopalakrishnan history of Indian dance traditions are its Patron focus. It publishes performance reviews Edward R. Oakley and covers all major events in the field of dance in and notes and comments on dance studies and performances Advisory Board abroad. The opinions expressed in the articles and the reviews are the writers’ own and Anuradha Jonnalagadda (Scholar, Kuchipudi dancer) do not reflect the opinions of the editorial Avinash Pasricha (Former Photo Editor, SPAN; SNA Awardee) committee. The editors and publishers C.V. Chandrasekhar (Bharatanatyam Guru, ) of Nartanam do their best to verify the information published but do not take Kedar Mishra (Poet, Scholar, Critic) responsibility for the absolute accuracy (; Founder, SPIC MACAY) of the information. Leela Venkataraman (Critic, Scholar, SNA Awardee) Guest Editor: Ileana Citaristi Mallika Kandali (Sattriya dancer, Scholar) Jayantika Papers: Vijayalaxmi Das Manjari Sinha (Critic, Scholar) Translation: Malabika Patel Pappu Venugopala Rao (Scholar; Former Secretary, Music Cover Photo: Academy; SNA Awardee) Some of the members and contributors to Reginald Massey (Poet, FRSA, Freeman of London) Jayantika (Scholar, Padma Shri and SNA Awardee, Photos: Nartanam Archives and Fellow of SNA) Ileana Citaristi Suresh K. Goel (Former Director General, ICCR) Cover, Design & Layout Shakeel Ahmed

Annual Subscription: In India: Individual: ` 1000 Institutional: ` 2000 Past issues can be obtained from our office ` Overseas: Individual: US $ 60 Institutional: US $ 80 @ 350/- per copy for individuals ` (All Inclusive of postage) @ 500/- per copy for instiutions Note: Students in India can avail of 25% discount on (Inclusive of postage in India; Subject to availabil- individual subscriptions) ity; Please check with the office.)

For all editorial enquiries, sending manuscripts, details of subscriptions, and past issues please visit www.nartanam.in Registered Office: Sahrdaya Arts Trust, #35, Poulomi Aristos, Golden Mile Road, Kokapet, Hyderabad- 500075 Email: [email protected], [email protected] Phone: 9989314829 website: www.nartanam.in

All articles, photographs and other materials, appearing in Nartanam, whether in whole or in part, in any form are exclusive copyright of Sahrdaya Arts Trust unless otherwise specified, and may not be reproduced in any form or stored in any electronic or retrievable format without prior written consent.

Printed and published by Madhavi Puranam on behalf of Sahrdaya Arts Trust, Hyderabad Printed at Karshak Art Printers, 40-APHB, Vidyanagar, Hyderabad-500044. (Ph:27618261) and published in Hyderabad. Editor: Madhavi Puranam NARTANAM Volume: XVIII, No. 3 July - September 2018 CONTENTS Editorial/ 7

On the Trail of Jayantika: An Introduction / 9 By ILEANA CITARISTI Guru Dayanidhi Das / 13

Chapter I: The first meeting of Jayantika / 16

Chapter II: Meetings of Jayantika (1958) / 26

Chapter III: Meetings of Jayantika (1959) / 46

Chapter IV: Meetings of Jayantika (1960) / 102

Repertoire / 120 Constitution – Jayantika / 158

Appendix I to Chapter III / 166 Appendix II to Chapter III / 176

Appendix to Chapter IV / 202 Guru Raghu Dutta's Notes / 212 6 Jayantika Special Nartanam

Photos on Cover

From left to right Top row: Gorachand Misra, Mayadhar Rout, Kalicharan Patnaik, Babulal Doshi, Dayanidhi Das, Deba Prasad Das,

Second row: Kartik Kumar Ghosh, , Raghunath Dutta, , Dhirendranath Patnaik

Third row: Batakrishna Sena, Priyambada Mohanty, Loknath Misra, , Harekrishna Mahatab

Bottom row: Laxmipriya Mohapatra and Kelucharan Mohapatra

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We thank the Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi, for its partial financial assistance for the publication of this journal. Publishers, Nartanam Nartanam Jayantika Special 7

EDITORIAL

The Trails of Jayantika

We bring to our readers another important issue of Nartanam after much toil and tears. We hope that this issue will contribute significantly to the history of dance. No research into Odissi will be the same again; such will be the impact of the publication of these rare papers retrieved from the folds of history – the proceedings of Jayantika and other allied documents. Till now the exact proceedings of Jayantika were unclear and thus the documents unearthed by Ileana Citaristi, the diligent scholar and avid reader and contributor to Nartanam fill a significant lacuna in Odissi’s recent history. Indian dance will be grateful to Vijayalaxmi Das, the daughter of Guru Dayanidhi Das who had carefully preserved the proceedings of Jayantika in his personal collection. We have laid out the documents after a brief biographical note on Guru Dayanidhi Das, to whom we owe most of the writings in our possession. Jayantika makes for an important case study in dance. The revival of an entire dance form from shambles is pivoted on this association called Jayantika which only lasted for a couple of years. When we published just one document from this collection in Nartanam Vol XIV no. 4, it created quite an interest among Odissi scholars but none ventured to go to the source and no academy ventured to safeguard or publish them. We appreciate the initiative taken by Vijayalaxmi Das in coordinating with Ileana Citaristi to facilitate their publication by Nartanam. What had happened in the proceedings of Jayantika? We present the documents in Odia which were mostly the minutes and some allied documents which were the notes made by Guru Raghu Dutta. We leave it to our readers and the scholars to interpret the significance of Jayantika. We have translated all available pages in Odia into English but will caution the scholars to pay heed to any valuable content lost in translation (which is a common phenomenon while translating) by subjecting these documents to their own translation and interpretation. 8 Jayantika Special Nartanam

Nartanam Conclave 2018 We welcome our readers to the second edition of the Nartanam Conclave. The programme of the seminars and the evening performances of the Nartanam Conclave 2018 can be seen on our facebook page and our website www.nartanam.in. A live telecast of the Conclave will be streamed on our website and YouTube. We are thankful to the Department of Language and Culture, Telangana, Dr. Marri Chenna Reddy HRD Institute of Telangana, the Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi and the illustrious corporate persona, K. I. Varaprasad Reddy, founder of Shantha Biotechnics who have staunchly stood behind this Conclave. We are especially thankful to B. V. Papa Rao (IAS Retd.), Advisor to the Government of Telangana, Burra Venkatesham (IAS), Secretary to the Government of Telangana, Department of Youth Affairs, Culture and Tourism, and B. P. Acharya, Director General & E.O. Spl. CS to Govt., and Mamidi Harikrishna, Director, Department of Language and Culture, Telangana, for their valuable support to the cause of Intangible Cultural Heritage. We thank the participating dancers and scholars, and also the volunteers of SPIC MACAY and Kona Lakshmi who helped us in innumerable ways to make the conclave a reality. Talent abounds against all odds, scholars excel despite many challenges, the government supports despite a million constraints- but we the people fail the arts. Nartanam is attempting to build an audience base in Hyderabad for performing arts and its academia while also motivating the corporates and the affluent to take an interest for they only can be the patrons of their own arts. If they could be sensitised to the performing arts, they could easily replace the kings of yore in extending patronage to the artists and their art. As I waited under a beautiful tree in the University of Hyderabad for the volunteers of the Nartanam Conclave to arrive, a passerby stopped to see the posters and invitation cards. He struck up a conversation with me and offered to help put up some posters. An aspiring Civil Servant, his question to me was, "Is there any monetary gain from this journal and this Conclave?" That gave me an opportunity to expound on India's Performing Arts and Nartanam's service to them without an eye for any benefit other than that of the immense satisfaction of having tried to contribute in a small way to the cause of our culture. Madhavi Puranam Nartanam Jayantika Special 9

On the Trail of Jayantika: An Introduction

ILEANA CITARISTI My meeting with Vijayalaxmi Das happened few years ago during a marriage reception held at . She was introduced to me on that occasion as the daughter of Guru Dayanidhi Das, whose name was known to me from the time I was doing research for my book on my guru, Kelucharan Mohapatra.

Casually I asked her if she had ever heard about Jayantika from her father and she said she did not know much about it except that quite a lot of hand- written papers were lying in a trunk in her house at Cuttack which had been kept there by her late father.

I have to confess that it has not been easy to win her confidence. But slowly, from a slightly suspicious and reticent person she gradually opened up to become more involved in the mission to make these precious documents known to the Odissi world. The importance of these hand-written documents, most of which are proceedings of some of the meetings of Jayantika held between 1958 and 1963, is of various genres.

For her, publishing these documents is a way to give the right credit to her father in the history of the systemization of the Odissi dance form, since he is still one of the less recognised figures in the process. For me, and I suppose for all the practitioners and the scholars of the dance form, it is a way to finally discover a little more about Jayantika about which so less is known except for some stray references found here and there in articles related to the history of Odissi dance.

ILEANA CITARISTI, an Italian by birth, holds a PhD in Psychoanalysis and Eastern Mythology. Having worked in the traditional and experimental theatre in Europe, Ileana moved to India in 1979. She trained in Odissi under Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra and in Chhau under Guru Hari Nayak. A renowned dancer, choreographer, guru, and scholar, Ileana has authored books on martial practices of , and Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra among others. She has many awards and honours to her credit including the Padma Shri. She lives in and teaches at her institute, Art Vision. She is the guest editor of the special issue of Nartanam Vol XVIII no 3 on Jayantika. 10 Jayantika Special Nartanam

The documents found in the trunk give us different types of information. We come to know about the names of the persons who worked with the Association, in its beginning stage as well as progressively along the years, of the fees deposited, of the purposes stated in the formation of this conclave, of the type of Constitution and Memorandum it had, of the schedules of the three major performances presented by the members of the Association during these years, of the type of repertoire that existed in the Odissi dance at that time and the challenges faced in trying to establish Odissi as one of the ‘classical’ forms of dance.

This last topic in fact seems to be the most recurrent preoccupation which emerges from the different speeches and agenda which accompany the proceedings of the various meetings.

Unfortunately not all the pages found are dated but almost all carry signatures of the members who attended the meetings. We do not know what happened during the gaps of time for which there are no proceedings available; either they have been lost or taken away by somebody else or there had been no meetings at all. While most of the proceedings were written by Dayanidhi, who had been the Secretary of the organisation all through, we have also reports written by Loknath Misra who became President from July 1959 onwards and Raghu Dutta who was attached as assistant teacher to the Kala Vikash Kendra.

It is interesting to note that the members associated were not necessarily only from the dance world but the list includes Members of Parliament, High Court judges, journalists and advocates as well. Biranchi Rout, a journalist of the Prajatantra newspaper, in his first inaugural speech delineates with clarity the purpose and the need for forming unity and cooperation among the different practitioners and his speech could be relevant in the present scenario as well, where divergences and controversies are easy to surface among the exponents of a particular dance style.

Another interesting thing to observe is that most of the notes regarding syllabus or repertoire are more concerned with the grammar of the style (definition and comparison of chari-s, bhramari-s, utplavana, bandha, basic steps and tala-s) than with items as such, something that unfortunately is not being followed in the present day Odissi training. From the notes of Raghu Dutta related to the daily training imparted in Kala Vikash Kendra in those years, we find that a lot of emphasis was given to the practice of the basic steps in different rhythmic variations (arasa, chanda, khandi) and on the basic grammar as found in Abhinaya Darpana and Abhinaya Chandrika, including the performance of bandha or acrobatic poses which have been totally discarded from the present day Odissi training. Nartanam Jayantika Special 11

Although the notes by Raghu Dutta are not strictly proceedings discussed during Jayantika meetings, they have been included at the end of this work as examples of the syllabus and of the standard of rigorous training imparted during those years.

The episode related to Vinod Chopra, a cine artist who seems to have approached Kalicharan Patnaik in July 1959 with the request of being instructed in the Odissi dance form during the few days at his disposal for the purpose of demonstrating it along with other styles of dance he had learned, is interesting for the type of reactions it provoked among the Odissi gurus and members of Jayantika. The episode seems to have acted as a further incentive for them towards the purpose of establishing Odissi dance as ‘classical’ and of giving a lesson to all those who would disregard it by thinking to master it in just a few days. We see that after this episode, activity towards mounting the first performance-demonstration increased and soon after that planning started for putting up the Conference of Comparative Study between Odissi, Kathak and Bharatanatyam.

The meetings became very sporadic after this last effort and the real purpose of Jayantika seems to have been lost with the gurus travelling and getting assignments in different towns. By the time we read the letter addressed to the Secretary of Orissa Sangeet Natak Academy in 1963 in which an appeal is being made to consider the contribution of the Odissi gurus while forming the syllabus of the Dance and Music College opened by the Academy, we can smell a sense of lost opportunities underneath the lines and a feeling of abandonment in its desperate attempt to keep alive something that most probably had already faded out. However, Odissi dance survived and shone along the years, and it is time that the work of these pioneers and their sacrifices is honoured and remembered forever.

The documents have been divided in different chapters to facilitate a sense of continuity according to the dates and the topics. The first chapter includes all the documents related to the first meeting of the Association (22 June 1958), from the convocation letter sent by Dayanidhi Das to the President's speech and the summary of the meeting. The second chapter includes the proceedings of the meetings held on 22 June 1958, 27 July 1958 and 3 August 1958 and the letters with request for memberships of the same year.

The third chapter includes proceedings of the meetings held on 11 July 1959, 19 July 1959, 26 July 1959, 29 July 1959, 31 July 1959, 9 August 1959 and 29 August1959, besides the bunch of letters received in the same year. In the appendix to this chapter are the documents related to the Vinod Chopra episode 12 Jayantika Special Nartanam which happened during the month of July 1959. A second appendix includes the documents about the planning and execution of the first program-demonstration which took place on 12 September 1959 at the Nari Sangha Sadhan, Cuttack. A third appendix to the same chapter has the schedule and planning of the program held at S.C.S College Hall, Puri on 5 October 1959.

The fourth chapter includes proceedings of the meetings held on 27 January 1960, 15 February 1960 and 6 May 1960. The appendix deals with the detailed description of the comparative demonstration of the three styles of Odissi, Kathak and Bharatanatyam held on 22 June 1960 at Janata Theatre, Cuttack. The fifth chapter describes the meetings held on 8 August 1963 and 11 August 1963 concluding with the letter directed to Sangeet Natak Academy, the last document in our possession.

The last two chapters deal with the Constitution and Memorandum of the Association written both in English and Odia and with the repertoire as was devised at that time which was divided into five segments – bhumi pranam, batu, pallavi, abhinaya and mokshya with detailed tala system of the items. To this we have added the appendix with the daily teaching at the Kendra compiled by Raghu Dutta.

I am extremely grateful to Vijayalaxmi Das for sharing these valuable documents and allowing their publication and to Malabika Patel for giving her precious time to translating the matter from Odia to English in spite of the precarious condition of most of the original documents and the difficulty in deciphering the hand written texts. Nartanam Jayantika Special 13

Guru Dayanidhi Das

“Life should be large and not long; spreading of joy is of greater importance than owning the riches of the world”. Such was the philosophy of Guru Dayanidhi Das. His contribution is enormous to the fields of dance, drama, literature, and social service.

Born in the village of Sajana Pada of Nayagarh district in Odisha, he spent his childhood enjoying the night jatras, learning to play tabla and other instruments, and practising folk dance at the cost of his studies, which irked his father Sanatana Das. The enraged father once beat him mercilessly. Out of fear and agony, Dayanidhi left home when he was in class eleven. He continued his education and earned his livelihood by taking private tuitions. He passed Matriculation from Nayagarh. He then moved to Cuttack where he flourished in dance, music and tabla, while he pursued academics in Ravenshaw College.

National Music Association (NMA) and Utkal Sangeet Samaja were the two famous institutions, during those times, in the field of dance and music. Dayanidhi trained in Kathak and Hindustani vocal music at NMA. He could not complete his training in vocal music but obtained the Nritya Pravakar in Kathak and Odissi from Prayag Sangeet Samiti in Allahabad. He trained in tabla under Radha 14 Jayantika Special Nartanam

Gobinda Ghose. Guru Haramohan Khuntia and Jayakrushna Kahali trained under the same guru.

Babulal Doshi the founder of Kala Vikash Kendra (KVK) sought the help of Dayanidhi Das in his mission. As a simple, sincere and devoted artist Dayanidhi Das served his purpose with heart and soul. He was the first dance teacher at Kala Vikash Kendra. He framed the first Odissi dance syllabus, as early as in 1952-53. Thus Odissi began to be taught in a systematic manner. Before that there was no name as “Odissi Dance”. While preparing the syllabus Dayanidhi Das named the prevalent dance as Odissi. He also framed the Odissi syllabus for the Prayaga Sangeet Samiti of Allahabad, which is in vogue till today. He named the first part of Odissi dance as Mangalacharan.

In 1954, as a student of Ravenshaw College, he attended the all India youth festival in Delhi as the accompanying tabla artist for the Dashavatara nritya peformed by Dhirendranath Pattnaik. In 1955 he married Nishamani Das. In 1958, he joined Utkal Vidyapitha at Kharagpur as a teacher. There he discovered the talented Alaka Mitra and started teaching her dance. Gradually he became famous in the field of dance, drama and music in Kharagpur.

By that time he was the General Secretary of Jayantika. It became inconvenient for him to manage the functioning of Jayantika and Kala Vikas Kendra simultaneously, while staying at Kharagpur. He resigned as a teacher at Utkal Vidyapitha and returned to Cuttack to work whole heartedly for Jayantika and KVK. He worked tirelessly as the General Secretary of Jayantika from 1958 to 1963. He joined the Pyari Mohan Academy High School at Cuttack. He got his B.A. Degree with Odia honours and distinction. At that time the D.P.I. of Odisha Education, Baidyanath Ratha was the principal of Radhanath Training College. Dayanidhi Das got his B.Ed. training from R.N.T. College where he conducted dance programmes regularly. Baidyanath Ratha who was very fond of him for his academic and artistic talent offered Dayanidhi Das to join Secondary Board High School run by Board of Secondary Education of Odisha. As it was prestigious, Dayanidhi Das joined the school and taught Geography, English and Odia. The Board appointed him as the convenor of music syllabus committee for Matriculation. He was also assigned set the questions and be a practical examiner of music as a subject.

He worked in many institutions like NMA, Utkal Sangeet Samaj, Lalita Kalapitha, Kalinga College of Dance and Music and many more. He founded the Kala Bhawan which is still running in the name of Dayanidhi Smruti Kala Nartanam Jayantika Special 15

Parisada, Cuttack. He was a writer of dance-drama, drama, ballet, poetry and Odia Barnabodha. His literary works are available at the Raja Rammohan Roy Library. His programmes (especially the ballet, shortplay and songs) were broadcast by All India Radio and Doordarshana regularly during his lifetime. A talented choreographer in Odissi and Kathak, he was a good dramatist and actor too. He directed the dance sequences in the film Laxmi (1962) which won a President's award. He established the Khandapada Nayagada Janata High School and Baliarasingh Library at his village in 1968. Classical vocal concerts were organised regularly by him in Kalabhawan. Reputed singers and musicians took part in those programmes on every full-moon day.

Poor finances, the grind, and labour to accomplish his noble mission, withered his body but could never dampen his spirit. On the 14 March 1979, at the age fifty, Guru Dayanidhi Das passed on. 246 Jayantika Special Nartanam

A Dance notation

A receipt of Jayantika ."      / ! 

 !





0    12                !       ! "