Travel Diaries: The Odisha Experience

A visit to Konark, Puri and Bhubaneswar in winter can be enriching in terms of experiencing their tradition and culture, be it in the performing arts, paintings and sculptures or handicraft items.

- Prafulla Das

The locale was right, the ambience befitting, and the message powerful when this year’s Konark Festival kicked off with the presentation of the national song, “Vande Mataram”, by the artists of Srjan, a premier odissi dance institute founded by the late Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, the doyen of odissi. The opening presentation was in line with the tag line of the festival: Experience the rhythm... that binds India together!

Konark is a small town on the Odisha coast just 35 kilometres from Puri. As thousands of lovers of Indian classical dance and art connoisseurs converged in Konark to witness the five-day-long annual festival, which began on December 1, the historic Konark Sun temple, or Black Pagoda, which is known for its erotic sculptures, seemed to be basking in its own glory. The festival venue, decked up as an out-of-the-world place with its open-air auditorium set against the backdrop of the majestic temple, reverberated with the ethereal classical dances of India and the accompanying music. The auditorium is spread over several acres and has a beautifully constructed gallery with the stage in the middle.

The dance presentations on the five colourful evenings included those of odissi, bharatnatyam, kathak, kuchipudi, manipuri and sattriya. The artists enthralled the audience with their stunning performances. Many foreigners, dance lovers from different parts of the country and local people attended the festival. Winter had just set in and the cool breeze added to the mystic mood in the well-illuminated surroundings. A few people were seen burning firewood along with frankincense to warm the open-air auditorium and chase away mosquitoes.