post news network
Bhubaneswar, Sept 14: A Mahari dance festival was organised by the cultural body Samprada at Rabindra Mandap Wednesday.
Jhelum Paranjape of Mumbai presented the first composition set to the Jagannath bhajan ‘Ei Kathare Mo Mana’. The second composition of the evening was presented by Suhag Nalini Das. It was set to a song composed by a devotee of Lord Jagannath. The third performance, Mahari Mela Nrutya, was presented by a dance troupe.
Gagan Kumar Dhal, principal secretary of tourism and micro, small and medium enterprises; Amarendra Kumar Patnaik, director of culture; G K Acharya, deputy general manager corporate affairs, PPL; and Meenakshi Mishra, regional director, ICCR, were among the dignitaries present at the event.
Background
Mahari is an ancient dance form of Orissa which originated in the Srimandir. Devadasi dancers called Maharis used to perform the dance, which was an integral part of the daily rituals at the temple.
Chodaganga Deva, a 12th century king, was a great patron of the dance form. The classical dance form Odissi is believed to have originated from Mahari while Gotipua is considered an offshoot of the Mahari tradition. The popularity of Mahari dance declined over the 15th and 16th centuries.
The word Mahari derives from ‘Mohalla Ki Nari’, which means a woman of the world. For the Maharis, who were married to Lord Jagannath, the lord represented the world. Maharis used to hold a respected position in society and even women from rich families took it up as a profession.