Odissi Krishna.

As told by Odissi guru shri Sri Vishnu Tattva das,

In ancient India the temple was the center of learning, culture, religion and art. In Orissa, in north eastern India, in the temple of Lord Jagannath, "Lord of the Universe", religious rituals, music, and dance were combined together to create the highly sculpturesque and devotional dance style, Odissi.

According to archeological evidence, Odissi is one of the oldest surviving dance forms of India, dating back to the 1st and 2nd century BC; Mahari legend and oral tradition hold that its origins date back even further.
In the Natya Shastra, an ancient text on music, dance, and drama, considered to be the 5th Veda, the sage Bharata Muni describes Odissi as the dance from Odra-Magadhi and Utkal, the traditional names for the region now known as Orissa. The graceful and flowing movements of this art form have been captured in stone in many temple sculptures throughout Orissa.

 

Painting of Odissi dancer-by Vedavyas

It is said that Lord Shiva taught dance to his son Ganesh, who in turn taught it to the apsara Mani Rambha. She taught it to the sage Bharata. The tradition was carried on by Gargacharya, Bikatacharya, Kumaracarya, Rantidev and Attahasa who taught it to the Devadasis or Maharis of Orissa.

During the British rule in India, Odissi dance came close to extinction. Due to cultural misunderstanding and insensitivity

The Odissi dance form was kept alive by the male counterparts, known as gotipuas, and it was through them that the dance was revived in the early part of the 20th century. Gurus such as Pankaj Charan Das and Kelucharan Mohapatra, who was himself a gotipua, have faithfully recreated the choreography and technique to pass on the expertise to the contemporary dancers of Odissi.

but Today after igniting years of independence, though Odissi dance has stepped out of the temple into mainstream society, it continues to inspire and awaken beauty and grace in the hearts of artists and spectators alike.

Smt. Madhavi Mudgal- renowned odissi master.

 

My most fascinated part of odissi nritya is rendition of Jayadeva's gita govinda.The art delineates the love of Krishna for Radha, the milkmaid, his faithlessness and subsequent return to her, and is taken as symbolical of the human soul's straying from its true allegiance but returning at length to the God who created it.