Odissi
Odissi
India's most sculptural classical dance — the postures of Odissi mirror the carvings of Odisha's ancient temples, bringing stone to life through the body.
AT A GLANCE
Origin
Odisha
Root Language
Odia / Sanskrit
Century
Evidence from 2nd century BCE; revived 20th c.
Imbibing the spirit of devotion from the [Mahari] and the technique from the [Gotipua]
Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, founder of modern Odissi
What Is
Odissi
Odissi is traditionally a dance-drama genre of performance art, where artists and musicians play out a story, a spiritual message, or a devotional poem from the Hindu texts, using symbolic costumes, body movement, abhinaya, and mudras. Its roots extend almost 2,000 years — evidence of its earliest forms appears in the cave sculptures of Udayagiri and Khandagiri near Bhubaneswar, and in the Natyashastra's reference to the Odra-Magadhi style of dance.
The form evolved through three distinct traditions: the Mahari (female temple dancers dedicated to Jagannath in Puri), the Nartaki (court dancers under royal patronage), and the Gotipua (young boys trained to perform in female costume for temple festivals and public events). It was from these living roots that the 20th-century revival drew.
The gurus now known as the architects of Odissi got their early training working in Odia theatre companies — Kelucharan Mohapatra trained in a Ras-Lila troupe, while Pankaj Charan Das and Deba Prasad Das worked at the New Theatre. NIOS In 1958, this group came together as Jayantika — a collective of gurus, scholars, and writers who met over several years to codify the grammar and repertoire of Odissi, securing its recognition as a classical form.
Odissi's revival began in the mid-20th century, led by dancers such as Pankaj Charan Das, Kelucharan Mohapatra, Debaprasad Das, and Mayadhar Raut, who researched ancient texts, surviving palm-leaf manuscripts, temple sculptures, and folk traditions to reconstruct and systematize the dance for the modern stage. What exists today is both ancient and newly made.
Core elements
Tribhanga — the three-bend posture (head, torso, hip offset in opposing directions) that defines Odissi's sculptural aesthetic; mirrors postures in Konark and Bhubaneswar temple carvings
Bhangas — the system of body deflections (samabhanga, dvibhanga, tribhanga) that organize all Odissi movement
Pallavi — a pure dance piece exploring a raga through movement
CONNECTED ON THIS SITE
SOURCE READING
Dinanath Pathy — Rethinking Odissi (2007)
Sunil Kothari — Odissi: Indian Classical Dance Art (Marg Publications, 1990)
Priyambada Mohanty-Hejmadi — Kelucharan Mohapatra and the Making of Odissi Dance
Sahapedia — A Brief History of Odissi Dance
Srjan — Kelucharan Mohapatra biography
The Print — Kelucharan Mohapatra: Perfectionist and Guru Par Excellence
KEY VOCABULARY
Tribhanga — the three-bend posture (head, torso, hip offset in opposing directions) that defines Odissi's sculptural aesthetic; mirrors postures in Konark and Bhubaneswar temple carvings
Mangalacharan — the opening invocatory sequence
Chauka — the square, grounded stance; the masculine counterpart to the fluid tribhanga
Bhangas — the system of body deflections (samabhanga, dvibhanga, tribhanga) that organize all Odissi movement
Abhinaya — expressive storytelling, most often drawing from Jayadeva's Gita Govinda
Jayadeva's Gita Govinda -- poetic work describing the relationship between Krishna, Radha and gopis of Vrindavan
Pallavi — a pure dance piece exploring a raga through movement
THE TRADITION TODAY
Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra along with his wife Laxmipriya and their son Ratikant Mohapatra built Srjan in 1993 — which remains one of the foremost centres of Odissi training in Bhubaneswar. The Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Odissi Research Centre (formerly Odissi Research Centre, established 1986) continues to document and transmit the form. Major exponents trained under the revival gurus — Sanjukta Panigrahi, Sonal Mansingh, Madhavi Mudgal, Kumkum Mohanty — established the form globally, and their students now lead the third generation of Odissi worldwide.
