The temple walls

Mesmerizing Odissi dance inspired by mysterious temples of Orissia

(Bhubaneswar) As sundown approaches in the eastern Indian city of Bhubaneswar – some 438 kilometres southwest of Kolkata – trails of young girls and boys make their way into the local cultural center. On entering the performance hall the youth leave behind the everyday clamour of the streets of this city located in one of the poorest states of India. Here kids enrapture themselves in Odissi, a classical dance form that is inspired by the Kalinga temples that dot the landscape in this region.

On this evening swarms of youth leave behind the melee of the streets that most ordinarily includes wandering cows, roaming elephants, gazing monkeys, dizzying car and rickshaw traffic as well as the constant honking of horns. Together this bizarre mosaic is the everyday reality of the chaotic streets here.

But on this evening the girls are dressed in vibrant multi-coloured saris, and they eagerly await the performance while some busily text their friends just a few rows up as anticipation fills the air.

Suddenly all eyes are transfixed on a seven-year-old girl dressed in a red pleated silk sari, looking much like a motionless marionette. She slowly sets off on a mesmerizing show of classical Odissi. Her movements betray one sculptural frieze after another with multiple poses interspersed in graceful transition. Her legs ripple, and then her hands motion as if tracing figures in the sand.

Iconography of dance
Her movements have little to do with any kind of spontaneity or a whimsical choreography. That is because her every movement has been engrained in her young body by her guru, or teacher, who has undoubtedly studied the local iconography of dance from the stone temples of Bhubaneswar, of those in neighbouring Puri and the famous Sun Temple at Konark.

Nothing is left to chance here because this dance is a part of the local tradition and culture that is revered. A series of caves even document the roots of dance in these parts to the 1st century BC.

Odissi takes its cues from the Kalinga Hindi temples that fascinatingly intricate and uniquely ornamented. These places of worship were built between the 6th and 13th centuries A.D. Carved in their very structures are sculptures representing a multitude of gods and goddesses, deities, animals and even fantasy creatures. In addition and quite mysteriously on many of their exteriors you will also find a myriad of erotic sculptures and figures in life-like sexually charged poses. Centuries-old pornography or depictions of organic processes, take your pick.

But the iconography of dance originates much earlier than even than the temples of Orissa, but literally on the walls of the caves at Udayagiri and Khandagiri, six kilometres from the capital. Here caves are carved out of the hillside stone in what was once the retreat of Jain ascetics, practitioners of one of the oldest sects of Hinduism in the world.

Inscribed on the walls of one of the Udayagiri caves is a period text, the story of Kharavela, the Kalinga king of the 1st and 2nd century B.C, describing his life and the culture of dance, music, festivities and assemblies that he encouraged.

The walls of both hillsides tell the stories of a civilization that contributed to determining the direction that India took over two millennia ago. Here the doorways are engraved with majestic elephants marching in verdant forests; carved with festive dancing women or scenes of soldiers returning from war after victorious campaigns.

Kalinga, the ancient name for Orissa, was prosperous – largely because of the influence of Buddhism, which was born not far from here. Buddhism came to these parts the result of a tragic tale of one of this country’s greatest rulers, Ashoka, whose empire stretched through much of modern-day India all the way up to what is today Iran and Afghanistan.

Buddhism espouses peaceful coexistence
Witnessing the bloody Battle of Kalinga which took place just kilometres from here at Dhauli hill, a battle which resulted in the deaths of 100,000 civilians – Ashoka was horrified. So much so that he came to embrace Buddhism. Ashoka went on to dedicate himself to promulgating Buddhism and the peaceful coexistence that it espoused.

With Buddhism spreading from the 7th and 8th centuries, the inspiring temples found here are said to have been a means for local rulers to draw the people back to the Hindu fold. The small 7th century Parasurameswar temple, for instance, includes a carving of a round-bellied figure – unmistakably that of Buddha himself.

While not always sharing the same religious sects or even worshiping the same gods, consecutive ruling dynasties of Kalinga leaders from the 6th to the 13th centuries all erected temples that changed little in their basic structure. Some are Saivite temples; worshiping Shiva, God who is love, creator and the one who embodies creation itself. Others are Vaishnavite temples, and worship Vishnu as the Supreme God, and yet others could have been Jain or even Buddhist. All are Hindu, however, and share the Brahman faith.

« Bhubaneswar was the experimental playground of temple building activities, » says Sadasiba Pradhan, Head of the Department of Ancient History, Culture and Archaeology of the Utkal University, Vani Vihar in Bhubaneswar, « What is interesting is during these 700 years, even though there was change of ruling dynasties or patronage: the building tradition was never affected.”

The temple building tradition’s apex is the Sun Temple at Konark, 65 kilometres from the capital, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The site is the most beautiful and complex example of the Orissa temple structure – all while only containing its frontal hall, since that was destroyed long ago. What you see at Konark today is said to be about one third or one quarter of the original construction.

On these building walls you will also find a host of erotic sculptures of couples in different sexual poses.

« Although scholars have pondered about this over and over again, there is simply no one explanation that is acceptable to all, » says Pradhan, « Although we have about ten to twenty theories.”

« To me it appears to be the result of a perverted society. » he concludes, « How can you portray so much sexual obscenities on a sacred shrine? When you visit such a place it is not for pleasure but bliss and divine blessings.”

Pradhan explains that while manifestations of male and female organs are natural in Hindi iconography, the expressions of them are commonly presented in abstracted form – as opposed to what is seen at Konark. Even some eminent British scholars, he says, have gone so far as to suggest the demolition of the temples for being ‘obscene, objectionable and corrupting the minds of the people’.

While dance in Orissa dates back to the 1st century B.C., that tradition was the subject of a total break – and what we call Odissi today is a creation of modern history that is inspired by the abundant representations of dance that are sculpted on the temples.

Rigorous training of Gotipua
Just a few minutes drive from the majestic temple at Konark on a sand dune nestled among casuarina and cashew trees is the Konark Natya Mandap, a center of learning of Odissi dance set up by the internationally renowned Guru Gangadhar Pradhan. He makes his appearance in traditional dress, smiling as he offers a small bouquet of red and yellow gladiolus.

The morning rays of the sun envelop the main outdoor stage of the vast grounds as almost a dozen young boys march onto the left-most corner of what is a replica of the foundation of the temple at nearby Konark. It is time for Sangeet Sikshya, voice practice. The young boys almost without exception have an effeminate allure, and wrap their jet-black hair in a small pigtail. They sit cross-legged and begin to sing in unison, surrounding a guru who accompanies them with a traditional instrument. The children repeat the same refrain over and over again.

These are students of Gotipua, an art-form taught here through a rigorous training and exercise program. Gotipua is a curious dance form only performed by young boys who are dressed in female garbs and costumes. The word ‘Gotipua » literally means ‘goti’, or one; and ‘pua’, or boy.

The children come from families of villages throughout Orissa and have been deposited by to the care of the guru who will raise them until the age of fourteen. Meanwhile they will only return to their family one or perhaps two times a year. Over the course of their formative years these young boys will undergo a daily regimen that includes worshiping the Sun God three times a day, practicing rituals with bells and butter lamps, morning voice practice, oil massage, acrobatics, studies, dance practice in addition to regular school classes. Accompanied in training by their guru, they will also travel throughout Orissa, India and abroad performing Gotipua at festivals.

« There is some creativity but the tradition must be kept very connected, » says Pradhan, who himself began his life as a Gotipua dancer at the age of six, « Our style of dance is related to the temple almost like an album. I create something like that you might will find at Konark, and it gives a little impression. »

The children then lay down small mats and begin rubbing oil onto one another as they prepare to perform acrobatic contortions. The oil massage gives flexibility to their bodies and after twenty minutes they are ready to practice for their performance. They stretch into unlikely u-shapes as they perform Bandha, or acrobatic postures that include the twisting of their little bodies into a number of striking poses.

Long before Gotipua, however, it was the Mahari Dancers – known as the Temple Dancers – who kept the tradition of dance alive at the nearby Jagannatha Temple. At the seaside town of Puri where dancing girls participated in ritual dance and song services uniquely in honour of the deities and within the precincts of the temples themselves.

A winding, dusty night-time drive takes us to the outskirts of Bhubaneswar to the small concrete-floor studio of one of the leading Odissi artistes and soloists, Sugata Mohapatra. A small group of her disciples waits impatiently to begin to practice a group choreography.

« The technique behind the tradition is always there. Odissi is purely a sculptural dance, » she says, « and like guruji has said, ‘who says that we are doing anything new? It was our tradition and everything is there. Where? In the temple walls.”

International interest in Odissi
Sugata Mohapatra studied under the late and legendary Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, one of the gurus responsible for the re-introduction of Odissi into modern-society. She has taught Odissi throughout the world, regularly giving workshops in the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and the USA – in addition to herself performing at notable international venues such as London’s Sadler’s Wells.

But she also continues the work begun by her guru, and is dedicated to teaching her young students from Bhubaneswar at the Srjan Institute, an institute which imparts training in Odissi to the youth of Orissa.

As Mohapatra speaks her young dancers begin to sway in unison as a traditional tune is played on a small black recorder in the corner. Odissi dance begins by paying homage, she explains. The first – before the prayer – is a salutation to the deity, Lord Jagannatha. In unison the young girls begin to ply their intricate footwork, then deflect their hips and motion their feet. After a prayer, the salutation to God is made, followed by another to the Guru – with one to the public next.

The second item is a dance offering to Lord Shiva, the Lord of dance. This is pure dance. Other items in the Odissi repertoire include intricate hand gestures, story-telling, dance describing the incarnations of the gods while others are more theatrical and use facial expressions and body movements to embody characters.

The basic cultural references found in Orissa ultimately benefit from the cultural baggage that exists in Hindi culture, knowing the gods and deities, with each owning their very specific iconography and characteristics. That Shiva holds a trident or that Vishnu holds a conch is a common knowledge here and there are scores of deities with each bearing an anthropomorphic form.

« Your culture is different, ours is also different, » says Mohapatra, who regularly invites international guests to learn Odissi, « But how we negotiate when you come to learn our culture before teaching you the dance first we teach you our culture because in your culture you do not have Radha, Krishna, Rama… or other mythological themes. You do not have those characters, but rather you have King Lear! »

« So we also learn your culture and you also learn ours, not only in dance but in daily life. That is a great thing. In daily routines everyday Indian girls do housework; but in a different way. You do it with machinery, but we do it with our own broom. So that machine work and our way of doing this work impacts your culture too.”