Odissi

Origins and history

Odissi's theory is traced to the Natya Shastra, an old Sanskrit work on performance attributed to Bharata Muni. Scholars date its first full compilation to somewhere between about 200 BCE and 200 CE, though estimates differ. That text sets out 108 basic dance units, and the same 108 are used in Odissi. It also names four methods of expressive delivery, one of them Odra, a word for Odisha. Older evidence comes from cave carvings: at Udayagiri the Manchapuri cave shows dancers and musicians, and the Hathigumpha inscriptions from the same period mention music and dance. A polished basalt lithophone found at Sankarjang, dated to about 1000 BCE, points to an old music tradition in the region.

The old styles

Two ways of dancing Odissi grew up, and both are remembered today. The Maharis were women who danced inside temples; they were held in respect and were thought to bring a blessing to religious services. They acted out devotional poems, among them Jayadeva's Gita Govinda, written in the twelfth century, and works by the eighth-century teacher Shankaracharya. Later came the Gotipuas, boys dressed as girls, who danced at temple festivals and at open fairs for ordinary entertainment, adding athletic and acrobatic movement; some became teachers when they grew up. Kings supported the art at different times, and King Ramachandradeva is said to have brought martial training into it.

How it is danced

A dancer does not simply move to music. The face carries abhinaya, the acting that shows feeling, and the hands make mudras, gestures that work a little like sign language. Old Sanskrit writing on performance describes both. A programme usually opens with an invocation, then goes through pure dance, expressive dance and dance drama, and closes with moksha, a final piece that stands for release of the soul. Training works on bhangas, symmetrical bends and stances. Dancers speak of three parts of the body working together: the feet, the middle of the body, and the hands and head.

Suppression and revival

From the twelfth century on, temple life in Odisha suffered raids. An invasion by Sultan Firuz Shah Tughlaq in 1360 and 1361 is recorded as destroying the Jagannath temple and defacing statues of dancers, and dance halls fell into ruin. Under Sultanate and Mughal courts, temple dancers were made to entertain rulers and their households. The hardest blow came with British rule. Officials mocked the temple dances, missionaries campaigned against them from 1892, and in 1910 the colonial government banned temple dancing, leaving many dancers without income. After independence a revival began, and around 1950 the poet and researcher Kalicharan Pattanayak helped win the dance recognition. He is credited with the name Odissi.

Today and change

Odissi is now taught in dance schools and performed on concert stages, and men dance it alongside women. The rebuilding that began in the 1950s borrowed ideas from other Indian dances and added new pieces. Some artists make experimental work, and some productions mix in themes and ideas from other cultures. The dance's reach is wide: it was the only Indian dance form to appear in Michael Jackson's 1991 single Black or White. Odissi troupes also perform at festivals abroad, among them the Nishagandi Dance Festival in 2024.

How Odissi is kept

Odissi is learnt from a guru, usually starting young, and takes years of practice. A performance brings dancers and musicians together: the musicians play Odissi music and sing, while the dancers act out a story, a devotional poem or a spiritual idea. The programme follows a set order, opening with an invocation and moving through pure dance, expressive dance and dance drama before closing with moksha. In Odisha the temple setting still matters. The Maharis who danced there, and the Gotipuas who danced at fairs, are remembered as the dancers who shaped the form.

When and where

Odissi has no single date in the year. It is danced at temple festivals and public fairs as well as on stage, and since its revival in the twentieth century it belongs to the concert calendar, performed through the year in India and at festivals abroad.

Odissi belongs to the state of Odisha and is strongest in its temple towns: Puri, where the Jagannatha temple stands, Bhubaneswar, and Konark, whose stone carvings show dancers and musicians. Training schools and performances are found across India, and Odissi troupes also dance abroad.

What Odissi means

For those who keep it, Odissi is more than entertainment. The old texts say that dance and performance express spiritual ideas, virtue and the meaning of scripture, and the dancers of the temples were seen as an auspicious presence. Love is a central theme in Indian religious writing, and Odissi has long carried poems of longing and union, in which the lover and the saint are pictured as one. Dancers speak of moksha, the final item, as release of the soul.

Questions people ask about Odissi

See also

PulikaliPainted tigers and leopards dance through Thrissur on the fourth day of OnamBhangraA Punjabi harvest dance, first kept by farmers and now performed worldwideGhazalA short rhyming poem of love and parting, recited and sung from Arabia to South AsiaQawwaliDevotional Sufi singing from South Asia, led by hereditary parties at shrines

Good reading and sources

• Encyclopaedia BritannicaArticle
• IIT-Bhubaneswar to train students in Odissi tooThe Hindu, Article
• IIT-Bhubaneswar to train students in Odissi tooThe Hindu, Article

• Odissi on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.