The Dance
The Classical Dance of Orissa - Odisi, has its origin in its Temples.
Odissi evokes the name of the Lord Jagganath - the Lord of Universe.
Oddisi Dance is said be the oldest dance forms of India, as per the
archeological evidence. The Odisi dance forms have been found in Udayagiri,
Rani Gumpa Caves of the second century BC. These caves are supposed to be
earlier then the writingd of Bharats Natyashastra, in which there is mention
of Odisi Dance.
The Odissi dance is performed by the Clan called the Maharis and the
Gotipuas.. Maharis are the Devdasis (Servants of God) of Orissa. In the
past there were two clans of Maharis - the bhitari gauni Maharis, who would
reach the sanctum sanctorum of the temple and bahari gauni Maharis who would
be in the temples but outside the sanctum sanctorum.Maharis are supposed to
dance for the ceremonies and festivals connected with Lord Jagganath. But
once the Gotipuras were taught to dance they stepped out of the temple
premises. Gotipura in Oryan means a single boy. The Gotipuas came
into emergence as the Vaishnavites ( devotess of lord Vishnu) did not like
the dance by girls. So the Gotipuas - the boys were projected more than the
Maharis.However Vaishnavites contributed a lot to the music, song and dance
composition of Odisi. Bandha Nrutya is one of most interesting dance of
Gotipuras which involves gotipuas
and a few girls joining in the dance.
