The foremost torchbearer and custodian of the Guru Debaprasad gharana, reputed Odissi exponent Guru Gajendra Panda — teacher, choreographer, vocalist and brilliant dancer — came under the tutelage of Guru Debaprasad Das at the age of 10. He had already been trained in Sakhi Nat of the Southern district of Ganjam, Odisha, by Guru Raghunath Purohita and was an Akhada Pila under Guru Bhubaneswar Mishra. Trained in opera and theatre with Guru Prabhakar Shreechandan, 47-year-old Gajendra manages his guru’s institution Tridhara, and it’s branches at home and abroad singlehanded. As the director, he popularises and propagates Debaprasad’s gharana with immense reverence and dedication. His innovative use of Sabda Swara Pata, which he had mastered from his guru, adds freshness and style to his compositions. Here he shares his journey soaked in his guru’s ideas....
What is Sakhi Nat?
Ganjam’s Sakhi Nat is based on the sakhi bhav of the Vaishnav religion in which Lord Krishna is considered the only “Purush” in the universe and the rest are “Prakriti”. The Vaishnavites consider themselves sakhis of Lord Krishna. The popular Sakhi Nat of Ganjam started with this concept. Poems, Odissi songs like chhanda, champu composed by the famous Odia poets of Ganjam, like Kavisamrat Upendra Bhanja, Kavi Gopal Krushna, Kavisurya Baladev Rath, are used. The oldest guru (founder) of Sakhi Nat was Raghunath Purohita who passed away in 1974 at 88. He prepared 33 Sakhi Nat groups in Ganjam district and I was his last disciple.
How did you start with Guru Debaprasad Das?
When I came to Guru Debaprasad he said, “I will take your interview before I teach you. Tell me what you know.” I replied, “Everything!” “So why have you come to me,” he asked. “To learn classical Odissi,” I said. He started laughing and asked me to sing a champu. “Which one,” I asked. “Okay, okay ,sing Ka Champu,” he replied. I sang and then he asked for Kha and when I kept on singing with other letters, Guruji understood why I called myself a “Sabjanta” (knowing everything)! I had already learnt at least 1250 songs of different poets. After two hours of interview, he asked me who my guru was. When I mentioned Raghunath Purohit, he tweeked his ears and replied that his guru, Mohan Mohapatra, was a friend of my guru and asked me to stay in his house and learn. And like I became a guru of Sakhi Nat, he would, within two years, make me a good teacher of Odissi so that I go and teach in Ganjam. Next day he took me to Sangeet Mahavidyalaya and acquainted me with Gurus Pankaj Charan Das, Balkrushna Das, Simhari Shyamsunder and other stalwarts of music and mentioned that he was the dance guru here and I should join it. I told him I want only one guru as I would get confused learning from three gurus. He liked my approach of learning the ‘dimensions’ from one guru and welcomed me. So I stayed with him, helped him, did puja, considered it my home and learned. After 20-21 days whoever visited him, he introduced me as his eldest son! So everyone knows I am his eldest son. From 1975 to 1986, till his untimely death, I was in his house, executing the duties of an eldest son. After his death I founded a school called Debaprasad Kalakshetra in Brahmapur, Southern Odisha, taught and propagated his style. He had established a pioneering institution Tridhara, signifying the amalgamation of the parampara (tradition) of three streams of dances of Odisha — tribal, folk and classical.The symbol is a “trishakha belapatra” (the holy three-leaved branch of a wood-apple tree, used in Shiva worship) with Shiva at the centre, signifying Satyam-Shivam-Sundaram , and creation-preservation-destruction.
Have you learnt from any other gurus?
I am Ekalabya . Not for a single day have I learnt anything from anyone else.
Haven’t you incorporated anything of your own?
Guruji used to believe that it is not a great thing to learn 2-3 items or for 10-12 years. Until your soul, mind, intellect and eyes are totally absorbed into dance you cannot be a dancer. If you visit Konark, for example you would have to see and enjoy it from the perspective of dance. So in these ten years, not only dance but Guruji’s habits, food, likings and dislikes — everything — have seeped into me so much that I really have nothing of my own. Whatever I do, I keep in mind Guruji’s thoughts and proceed. For example it was only Guruji who had introduced the “sabda swara patta’in Odissi dance.
Could you explain Sabda Swara Patta?
Like you have Akhada-pila, Gotipua Nritta and Ganjam district’s Sakhi Nach, similarly in Western Odisha you have a form called Sabda Nritya which boys around 10-12 years old, dressed as girls, perform. Guruji collected them from there and incorporated them in Odissi. There are two types of Sabda. One which is on Gods like Ganesh, Lakshmi, Durga, Ram, etc. and another on Bhangima. In Odissi there is a lot of importance on bhangi . He used to give the description of each bhangi like that of playing the veena, venu, mardala, through Sabdas. When I researched the style and trend of Guruji’s work, I tried to move a step forward and composed Sabdas of the Ashta Nayikas, which was a bit different from those on Gods and bhangis. Guruji felt that since Pankaj Charanji came from a family of maharis, in all his work there was the influence of the mahari ang. Similarly Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra enriched his style with Rasa and Gotipua in his style. But Guruji’s idea was to use all the characteristics as prescribed in the Natya Shastra, applying them to the respective dance styles after incorporating the traditional (paramparic) elements. So he used all the traditional dance forms, (Adivasis and folk) purified them and connected with Odissi to present it with a different taste. This is Tridhara, his own style, the Debaprasad Style.
