Gotipua: Young boys dancing to an old tradition

Raghurajpur, an art village near Puri in Odisha, is home to a dance form called Gotipua

Credit: Lakshmi Sharath

Credit: Lakshmi Sharath

It feels like a virtual art gallery the moment I enter the portals of Raghurajpur, the Heritage Arts and Crafts Village, located about 15 km from Puri. Every resident here is an artist or a chitrakaar, and the village is synonymous with patachitra, the traditional scroll paintings that are said to date back to the 4th century.

The artists invite me inside to showcase their crafts, but I am in awe of the vivid murals that adorn the façade of their houses. Birds fly out the canvas, seasons change, and trees flower while deities and demons narrate legends. But the reigning theme is the portrait of the triad deities—Lord Jagannath and his siblings, Balabhadra and Subhadra—who gaze upon you from every wall.

However, there is more to Raghurajpour than the patachitra.

As I potter around the village, I hear strains of music and the rhythm of beats echoing from a small lane. I follow the melody, and a few artists guide me to a house with a large hall where young boys dressed as girls perform a traditional dance.

"We call it the Gotipua. Goti means single and pua means boy," says one of the dance masters as he takes a small break before resuming practice. "Gotipua was once a solo performance, and the boy had to master both singing and dancing besides being adept at playing musical instruments," he adds.

As the dance continues, I am schooled a little more in the history of Gotipua. This traditional dance was initially a ritual performed at the Lord Jagannath temple by maharis or devadasis. Later they were replaced by young boys dressed up like women. The boys joined the gurukul when they were barely five years old, and they lived here until their adolescence.

I later learned that there are two akharas or gurukuls here that have been trying to revive this ancient dance form. Odissi dancer Kelucharan Mohapatra, who was from Raghurajpur, used to be a Gotipua dancer.

As I look around, I can see shy boys aged between 5-15 years dressed up as women, with large bindis on their foreheads, kohl-rimmed eyes, bright red lipstick, flowers in their long hair, dancing away to songs and verses composed on Radha and Krishna. It is believed that the Gotipua dancers were the feminine companions of Lord Krishna when he was a boy.

They are in traditional silk costumes, including a bright-coloured blouse called "Kanchula" and a "Nibibandha" worn like an apron. The latter is tied around the waist and spreads like a fan around the legs. The jewellery is designed especially for the dancers, and it includes necklaces, earrings, bangles and bracelets, anklets and armbands.

The dancers paint a vivid picture; the dance is exuberant, energetic and acrobatic and is choreographed with many fleet-footed movements.

Although the traditional dance dates back to the 16th century, today, it is taught and practised in just Raghurajpur and Puri, where the tradition is being kept alive. As I leave the village, the music fades away, but the young boys' vivid faces are etched in my memory.

(Lakshmi Sharath is a storyteller, travel writer, blogger and a media professional from Bengaluru)