Pt. Gopal Chandra Panda, the SNA awardee musician and a much respected guru from Odishadevoted his entire life studying the old treatise and codifying scientifically the grammatical frameworkof Odissi music to bring back the rich tradition into limelight. A disciple of Pt. D. B. Paluskar, he has been practising and teaching Odissi music with the conviction to establish it as the third stream of Indian classical music at par with the Hindustani and Carnatic systems.
With this aim in mind, Guru Gopal Panda Odissi Academy (GGPOA), has been organising Odissi Raga Utsav annually at the Ravindra Mandap, Bhubaneswar. As a step ahead to its avowed goal, the GGPOA organised Odissi Raga Utsav in Delhi this time. The two-day festival-cum-seminar saw eminent scholars and artistes participating at the Triveni Kala Sangam recently.
Pt. Gopal Chandra Panda, the founder director of GGPOA and convenor of the seminar, introduced its theme ‘classical elements of Odissi music’ citing references from treatises like Natya Shastra, Geeta-Prakash, Sangeet Muktavali and Nritya Narayana.
Prof. Kamal Kant Mishra. Vice Chancellor Utkal University of Culture (UUC) presided over the session with participating panellists, Dr. Kirtan Kumar Padhi eminent musicologist Prof. Raghunath Panda, retired Sanskrit professor from UUC, and Dr. Bhagwan Prakash, social scientist and thinker .
Pt. Gopal Panda introduced Odissi music with a shloka from Natya Shastra “Chaturvidha pravrittishch proktah Natye prayogatah/ Avanti Daakshinaatyashch Panchaalishchaudramaagadhi”; where four types of ‘Pravrittih’ or inclinations of Indian music were mentioned by Bharat Muni in reference to their use in natya or drama.
Panda further explained that originally Indian classical music was just one and the same but as a consequence of local or regional influence, Avanti became Hindustani and Daakshinaatya (Southern) became Carnatic. Likewise, Audramagadhi, prevalent in the region of Audra, Utkal (Kalinga) and now Odisha should be accepted as Odissi music.
The problem is, he continued, that nobody has properly explained what is the real form and structure of Odissi music, what are its distinctive features and chalan etc. “I took it upon myself to find out the Satya, Shiva and Sundar of this style. I delved deep into the theory and practice of this age old tradition which would only add to the rich heritage of Indian classical music, if accepted as its third stream.”
Delivering the keynote address Dr. Kirtan Narayan Padhi reasoned, if classical dance of Odisha is recognised as Odissi dance and the language of this region as ‘Odia language’, why not Odissi music is accepted as yet? Talking about its antiquity, he stated from 5th century BC onwards it influenced the social, cultural and dramatic traditions of India. It had raga, tala, dhatu, matu and ang like sthayi and gamak. The Journal of Asiatic Society mentions that the inscription of Hathigumpha caves has Tauryatrik, confirming the raga, tala and pada of Odissi music.
Padhi also referred to the Shuddha, Bhinna, Besara and Sadharani Geeti mentioned by Bharat Muni in Natya Shastra and said Odissi music is related to Bhinna Geeti. He cited Bharatarnava of Nandikeshwara, Abhinaya Chandrika and Sangeet Narayana, published by the IGNCA, to prove his point.
Prof. Raghunath Panda deliberated upon the textual tradition of Odissi music and emphasised that there is sufficient material for research work and a large number of practising musicians and performing artistes of Odissi music. We have composite culture in India, he said, where every province has its representation. Prof. Raghunath Panda enumerated a number of original texts to authenticate Odissi music.
Sculptural evidences
Prof. Mitali Chinara talked about the tradition of Odissi Raga-Raginis researched by Guru Gopal Panda and demonstrated original Odissi ragas like Madhdyamadi, Deshakhya, Lalita, Nagavalli and the specific gamakas of Odissi music.
Dr. Bhagwan Prakash pointed out that the state of Odisha was under foreign rule for centuries on end, hence lost connection with its original music. Prof. Kamal Kant Mishra spoke about the sculptural evidences of musical instruments in Khandagiri and Udaygiri caves, literary evidence of Raga-Tala from Jayadeva’s Geet-Govinda and Kishor Chandranan Champu etc and reached the conclusion that spanning over two millennia, Odissi music has all the ingredients to be recognised as one of the classical music streams of India.
The main attraction of the inaugural evening was the classical trio with Hindustani vocal by Shashwati Mandal, Carnatic by Sudha Raghuraman and Odissi music by Sangeeta Panda performing on one platform, one after the other; offering listeners different flavours of the same raga rendered in three specific styles of Indian music.
Sangeeta humbly introduced Odissi music with the preface, “You are well acquainted with the first two styles that you just listened to. I’m also your own, but you have forgotten me. I’m here to rekindle your faded memories of me.” The parallel raga she rendered was Bangala, an authentic Odishi raga evolved from the Buddhist Charyageeti.
It was also a Sampoorna raga with Teevra Madhyam, like the other two. The rich timbre of Sangeeta’s voice caught the attention of the discerning audience at once. Preceded with the introductory alaap, she soulfully rendered the composition “Sakhi, Mohana re preeti kore…” set to Jati Tala of 14 beats cycle. The beautiful filigree of the Odissi gamakas set the music apart. All three ensembles of Hindustani, Carnatic and Odissi came together to conclude with “Lalit lavang lata…”, the popular Ashtapadi from Geet-Govind in raga Vasant as mentioned by poet Jayadeva himself.
Divine love
The inaugural evening concluded with Odissi dance by Guru Madhavi Mudgal and her disciples, based on the core ragas of Odissi Sangeet. Pallavi in raga Gundakeri, was a group choreography presented as a visual depiction of the raga and its swaras. The sargams of the raga were reciprocated by the bols, mnemonics on mardal and then translated into the movements and hastas of Odissi dance. The Abhinaya piece, a solo by Madhavi, was an Odia pada in raga Rasa-Manjari, describing the divine love of Radha-Krishna.
