Kelu Babu, the Olympian of Odissi

A tribute by A Seshan*

The passing away of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra in Bhubaneswar on April 7 marks the departure of a titan from the field of Indian classical dances, in general, and Odissi, in particular. Born on January 8,1926 he was 78 at the time of his death but was active on the stage till the end. A cardiac arrest brought about the sudden end of the dance maestro whose name has become synonymous with Odissi the world over.

The dance, as traditionally performed, was confined to the community of maharis (female dancers) and gotipuas (male dancers) till about six decades ago. The former were 'married' to Lord Jagannath in Puri in whose temple they were to perform at times of worship. This traditional practice was in danger of going out of vogue as the maharis got married. A married mahari was looked down upon by the community and forbidden to perform the dance. Further there was a growing feeling that Odissi was a dance of the market place. It was falling into bad days like the 'sadir' of Tamil Nadu earlier in the 20th century. It was in this milieu that gurus like Kelucharan took on themselves the task of resurrecting the dance form and sparking a renaissance. His apprenticeship with Guru Pankaj Charan Das in Annapurna Theatre laid a firm foundation for his efforts. He did considerable study of temple sculptures besides natya sastras. After this he shifted from theatre to dance on a full-time basis and never looked back again. What he did to Odissi was comparable to what Krishna Iyer and Rukmini Devi did to sadir, now known as Bharatanatyam.

Today Odissi is considered as one of the internationally-accepted Indian classical dances. There are many schools both in India and abroad teaching the dance form. One would be surprised to be told that at the time of the country's independence in 1947 one did not hear about it outside Orissa. It was recognised as a classical dance by the Sangeet Natak Akademi as late as 1958 and thus became the fifth recognised classical dance after Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Kathakali and Manipuri. It was the result of the efforts of innumerable Odissi masters who took the dance out of Orissa and also sanskritised it to give it respectability in official circles. In that process many of the erstwhile folk elements not fitting into the mould of natya sastras were weeded out. Kelu Babu, as he was affectionately called by his students and admirers, played an important role in the transformation of Odissi from a local art into a national, nay an international, art form through his tireless efforts. He found, for example, the need for refining the existing hasta mudras of Odissi on the lines of the ancient texts. Realising the lack of formalism in the techniques, which was a hindrance to its recognition as a classical dance, a number of scholars, including Kelu Babu, came together in an unprecedented conclave for three months in 1957 to agree on the standardisation of, and the rules for, Odissi. It was this effort, which culminated in the official recognition accorded to the dance form, referred to earlier. He started his own teaching school called Srijan.

What are the other contributions of Kelu Babu in a nutshell? Jhelum Paranjpe, one of his outstanding students, summed up the matter at her lecture-demonstration in the Symposium on Choreography held in Sri Shanmukhananda Fine Arts & Sangeetha Sabha, Mumbai (November 8-9,2003). The first innovation of the master of Odissi was in introducing languages other than Odiya and Sanskrit in performances like Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati and Tamil. The idea was to reach linguistic groups other than Odiya. Secondly, the theme was extended beyond Jayadev's ashtapadis, the traditional repertoire of Odissi dancers. Thus Tulsidas Ramayana was brought within the ambit of the dance form. Thirdly, the solo items were supplemented by group dances, which provided an opportunity to many dancers to perform on the stage. As she pointed out, the master was receptive to new ideas and encouraged her in innovative choreography. Thus she introduced Marathi Bhav Geet as music in one of her performances with a view to taking Odissi to Marathi audiences. But perhaps the most innovative of her contributions inspired by her guru for which she has justly become famous is the choreographing of mathematical problems and solutions described in Bhaskaracharya's Leelavati.

Kelucharan Mohapatra received several honours over the years. Among the official decorations were Padma Shri in 1975, Padma Bhushan in 1989 and Padma Vibhushan in 2000 besides awards from the central and regional sangeet natak akademis.

Even though he was 78 years old he continued to perform on the stage till the end. When he danced only his art, and not his age, was seen - the mark of a great artiste. He had a wiry and strong physical frame disciplined over a lifetime. It was amazing to this writer to see him get off the floor effortlessly in his performances like young dancers without the support of hands on the floor.

Fortunately for the rasikas Kelu Babu has left behind a number of talented disciples who will carry the torch of Odissi in the years to come. He is no more but his perfect tribhangi pose will remain etched in the memories of his admirers forever.

References:

Odissi, Sharon Lowen, in the Dances of India Series, edited by Alka Raghuvanshi, Wisdom Tree, New Delhi, 2004.

Innovative Choreography in Odissi, Jhelum Paranjpe, Paper read at the Dance Symposium on Choreography held at Sri Shanmukhananda Fine Arts & Sangeetha Sabha, November 8-9,2003.

* The author is a former Officer-in-Charge of the Department of Economic Analysis and Policy, Reserve Bank of India. He is a music and dance buff.