She is Guru Ma, the matriarch. At 91, she is the presence that 110 budding dancers of Srjan look up to for guidance. As dusk descends and anklets of many enthusiastic feet move in unison, Lakshmipriya Devi looks on as a mother would when an offspring takes their first steps.
Srjan is the gurukul in Bhubaneswar where the next generation of Odissi dancers are being nurtured under Lakshmipriya’s guidance. The first ever Odissi dancer to perform on stage, Lakshmipriya’s devotion to dance remains unaffected by age. Neither is her passion to groom young talents in any way dimmed.
She still has the power to captivate with a mudraa. Her hands tremble, but even then she can strike a posture much younger dancers fail to attain.
She sees to it that each student of Srjan is groomed to that point of brilliance. Her responsibility is not of a teacher, but something much more in keeping with her stature of Guru Ma.
Students come in various shapes and sizes, from three-year-olds to grown-ups. As founder-trustee, Lakshmipriya never ceases to do her bit—from being an exacting critic to the shelter in moments of distress. An epitome of perseverance, she has never shirked her responsibility towards Srjan, established by her husband Guru Keluchanran Mohapatra, to make Odissi a dance for humanity.
A celebrated theatre actor and enchantress of Odia silver screen, Lakshmipriya remembers how it all began. “I first set eyes on Guruji at the famed Annapurna Theatre. He joined there as a junior percussionist and I was the heroine of all the successful plays. When our eyes met, I realised my quest for a soulmate had ended. Our feelings grew every time I danced to his mardala and drumbeats but I being the leading actress and the cynosure of all shows, he was too much in awe to approach. Finally, I had to express my feelings towards him with a rose. Those moments would remain alive forever”, says Lakshmipriya, her face glowing.
Theirs was a bonding of two divine beings who complimented each other with their multitude of talent, ideas and vision.
In the 1940s, Odissi was a nameless form of dance, fixated on the temple walls and randomly scattered in folk forms like Gotipua and Sakhi Nata.
It was Lakshmipriya who brought about a cultural awakening of sorts amongst women of Odisha. She appeared on stage as a woman dancer and unleashed a glorious era for Odissi.
“Kelu Babu saw a few Gotipua dancers from Banapur performing. Inspired by the energy and the grace, he wanted to incorporate a similar form of dance in the ongoing plays. He envisioned the magnitude of possibilities of the ancient dance form which was frozen on the walls as murals and sculptures,” she says.
Ratikant Mohapatra, their son and successor, echoes the same feelings. “1947 is not only significant for Indian Independence but also was a landmark year for Odissi dance.” That year, three major plays included Odissi dance where Guruji and Guru Ma performed together along with Guru Pankaj Charan Das, another virtuoso of Odissi, and the rest is history, he points out.
Lakshmipriya, a native of Khurda, travelled at a young age to Puri, the cultural epicentre of Odisha. There her involvement began as an artiste in theatre group Annapurna “A”, which was the torch-bearer of professional theatre movement in India. Lakshmipriya’s odyssey as a performer took her to remote villages as well as cities and helped hone her skills. She was a disciple of Rama Mania, Kasinath Sahu, Lakshmidhar Patra and Lingaraj Nanda, legendary names of theatre and bloomed as a polished stage artiste and debuted in the play Mohini.
“When she did Mohini, she became an icon and everyone wanted to dance like her. That was when dance was looked down upon. She created the opposite impression and inspired a whole young generation. She is one of her kind,” says dance critic Leela Venkataraman, best summing up Lakshmipriya.