BERHAMPUR : Gopinath Swain is 105. But ask him about Krishna Leela and his face brightens up.
One of the last Gurus of the near-extinct folk dance tradition of Krishna Leela, which is based on classical Odissi music, Swain is proud of the fact that even today he can speak about and perform the art form for 12 hours at a stretch. “It is my devotion for Krishna Leela that keeps me going even at this age,” said the artiste who will receive the Padma Shri award this year.
Hailing from Govindapur village in Sheragada block of Ganjam, Swain has been documenting, preserving, promoting and performing Krishna Leela for over nine decades now. His tryst with Krishna Leela began at the age of 10. “I started my journey by playing the role of Krishna and learning his songs as per the early 20th century practice from Guru Choudhury Behera,” he said. Subsequently, he also played the role of Yasoda and became the main singer-director and guru.
Over the years, he realised that the rare, old ragas of Krishna Leela were getting lost and there weren’t many left who knew the old repertoire. He then decided to devote his time in collecting and learning all endangered (500 to 600 year-old) ragas and songs of Krishna Leela from the senior most gurus of the art form in the mid-20th century (1940s-50s onwards) like Guru Akula Padhi, Guru Harihara, Guru Bhabani Patra, Guru Tarini Chandra Patra, among others.
His efforts helped preserve the sanctity and classicism of Krishna Leela as it was performed in the early 20th century and before. Swain also collected manuscripts, rare songs and ragas and early history of Krishna Leela, which would have been lost without his timely intervention. To preserve these songs and ragas for posterity, he has recorded several hours of Krishna Leela at Akashvani, Berhampur and Doordarshan, Bhubaneswar.
Swain has been performing in villages across the state, especially in southern Odisha, and even in bordering areas of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh. He has set up over two dozen village akhadas (schools for Krishna Leela) and taught hundreds of students, many of whom have become much-recognised and felicitated gurus in their own right, keeping this rare art form alive.
Padma Shri is not the only feather on his illustrious hat. Apart from the many private organisations that felicitated him, Odisha government has honoured him with Peetha Certificate of Honour in 2019 and Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi in 2021.
The centenarian hopes that the prestigious Padma Award would help develop the interest among more youngsters to learn the art form. He trains around 40 students now across Ganjam.