“The contribution of Orissa and the devotee poet Jayadeva towards the enrichment of Indian culture is immense and invaluable?, said Priyaranjan Dasmunshi, Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs, while inaugurating the closing cultural evening of two-day-long Jayadeva Utsav in New Delhi. Shri Dasmunshi described the magnum opus of Shri Jayadeva, Gitagovinda as phenomenal. Gitagovinda has been impressing and inspiring the artistes, writers, poets, painters and sculptors generation after generation, he opined.
Organised by Odissi dancer Kavita Dwibedi'sinstitution Odissi Akademi in association with Habitat Centre, Sahitya Kala Akademi and Bhubaneswar-based Jayadeva Foundation Trust, the event drew huge crowds on both the evenings at Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre. Other dignitaries who graced the occasion in the closing ceremony were Ramdas Agrawal, MP, Jual Oram, MP, V. Kishore Deb, M.P. and Ramchandra Khuntia, Vice-President, INTUC.
Shri Dasmunshi released a colourful souvenir entitled Jayadeva Utsav 2007 on the occasion. He also felicitated the editor of the souvenir and senior journalist Pratap Patnaik and renowned cartoonist from Orissa Shilpee Ashok who had put up a cartoon exhibition on the cultural personalities of Jayadeva Utsav at the festival venue. The evening started with the showing of a documentary film on the growing popularity of Jayadeva Utsav since 2002 designed by famous filmmaker Nilamadhava Panda.
On the earlier day inaugurating the Jayadeva Utsav 2007 Brajakishore Tripathy, MP and former union minister described how Gitagovinda has been tremendously influencing India'sall classical dancers and music forms. Other top dignitaries who graced the inaugural evening of Jayadeva Utsav were Subas Pani, union secretary for Rural Development and Suresh Chandra Panda, development commissioner, SEZ, Noida.
The first programme of inaugural evening was vocal recital of celebrated Carnatic singer O.S. Arun. Shri Arun left the packed audience in the auditorium thoroughly spellbound with his soothing and sensuous rendition of Gitagovinda. Then noted Odissi danseuse Meera Das, upcoming Manipuri dancer Karuna Devi and veteran Kathak exponent Vaswati Mishra took the stage and enthralled the art-lovers with their prolific performances.
The concluding cultural evening of Jayadeva Utsav began with an Odissi vocal recital by renowned Oriya singer Minati Bhanja. Smt. Bhanja'sguile voice had a mesmerizing effect on the audience.
The other star attractions of the evening were superb and scintillating performances by noted Bharatnatyam danseuse Rama Vaidyanathan and doyen of Odissi dance and daughter-in-law of legendry Kelucharan Mohapatra, Sujata Mohapatra. The Jayadeva Utsav 2007 concluded with a Kuchipudi presentation of Gitagovinda by Padma Vibhushan Raja Radha Reddy and his 19 members? troupe. These powerful and captivating performance had so much of rasa and lalitya into them that it had moving and lasting impact on the viewers.
A national seminar and workshop was also the formal part of the festival. Inaugurating the Seminar at Sahitya Kala Akademi eminent scholar Dr. Subas Pani explained the spiritual, philosophical and creative impact of the Gitagovinda on the works of both artistes and scholars. Delivering the key-note address Orissa chief secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy explained how Gitagovinda worked as a catalyst to bring the unity, tranquility and peace in the society in the 12th century AD when the Indian subcontinent was ravaged by external invasions, wars, battles, rise of a number of principalities and multifarious religious ideas.
Octogenarian Odissi vocalist Pt. Raghunath Panigrahi inaugurated the national workshop on Jayadeva at Sahitya Kala Akademi on the next day. (FOC)
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