Shyamhari Chakra

Bhubaneswar: Despite suffering from a dreaded disease, 30-year-old Swetapadma Mishra of Keonjhar town has emerged as an acclaimed mandal artist. In just four years, the self-taught artist…

A Christian by birth but Hindu at heart, it was Hungarian lass Katalin’s love for Odissi dance that made her the daughter-in-law of an Odia family from Bhubaneswar, finally, 13 years ago.…

Even after a 25-year intimate involvement with theatre, as an accomplished actress and promising director who has performed across India and several other countries, the humble Sujata…

“Why do these men dance in the costume of women?”  Twenty-eight years ago, a school-going girl of Baripada had asked her father who had taken her out to watch the famous annual Chaitra…

Surviving in the land of Bollywood as an independent Mardal player, Odisha’s indigenous percussion instrument, for 17 years is a feat in itself. Odisha’s G Ramprasad, a leading Mumbai-based…

Bhubaneswar-based Janhabi Behera is quite familiar as a gifted Odissi dancer. Recipient of the prestigious Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Prative Puraskar from Central Sangeet Natak Akademi,…

As a teenager, Narottam Das bagged Odisha State Award for the best design in terracotta in 1996. By the time he was 30, the Odisha-born artist had won a National Award for pottery design…

Cuttack-based Mamata Samantaray has been an employee of Odisha Police for over 25 years. That’s her profession. However, her passion is fine art and the skill she possesses has put her on a…

Guru Sudhakar Sahoo is 86 and still dances on stage. The oldest Odissi performer in the world today, he also regularly travels across Odisha and even far off cities like Ahmedabad and New…

Mardal, Odisha’s ancient and indigenous percussion instrument is an integral part of Odissi music and dance traditions. Ironically, it was being treated as a mere accompanying instrument for…