Gadadhar Bariha – The lone living dancer of Sabda Nritya

In India every state has got a dance form of its own. While in Andhra Pradesh it is Kuchipudi, in Kerala it is Kathakali, in Uttar Pradesh it is Kathak and  in Orissa it is Odissi. But do you know from where does all these dances originated from. It is sabda and swara.  While sabda means the music, swara means the voice. On the absence of either of these two elements any dance is not a wholesome one.

Whereas Sabda Nritya is a dance form that originated from a small village of Western Odisha called Kumbhari. Late Bhagabana Sahu was its exponent. This dance form is in the verge of extinction, because it has been kept as a closely guarded secret in the last five decades. More to it this dance has been imparted only to the male while females were strictly forbidden.  As a consequence today here left only one living dancer by the name Gadadhar Bariha aged 58 years.

He hails from a remote village of Sonepur District called Kamira. At the age of 12 years he was chosen by his Guru Bhagabana Sahu to be trained for the Sabda Nritya. In those days there were no schools in this region, so he attended the guhal path, which means alphabets of Oriya were taught in the cow shed. He spent next 36 years of his adulthood serving his Guru in the ashram at Kumbhari.

Like his Guru he too lives a life of strict discipline. He spends most of his days in solitude in the jungle.  He opines that “Sabda Nrutya is a derivative of ancient Hindu holy texts called sastras. Whereas today  in  every cultural  dance of India there is only jaubana unmadana. We have corrupted our  cultural dances while using women as a mere  instrument. He says “Sabda Nrutya has not been commercially explored till date the way Odissi, Bharat Natyam or Kathak has been exploited, neither it should be”.

In January 2012 he was introduced by this writer with Dr.ileana Sitaristi (Padmashree awardee) the great Odissi dancer of Italian origin as she wants to promote Sabda Nrutya on the international stage. After watching his performance she acknowledged,  Sabda Nritya is here inside Gadadhar Bariha and no more  there at Kumbhari where she had been almost a decade back.

 

Since he is not a literate person in English and got a poor outlook, he fails to promote this dance in the outer world. Unless he imparts this knowledge to others Sabda Nrutya would just  be a content  of the history text books.  

This dancer could be reached at

+917326082906

kiranbima@gmail.com

WhatsApp# +918249314972

E. KIRAN MOHAN(the writer)

C\o. Dr.E.R.Rao (M.D),

Tehsil Chowk,

At\PO: BARPALI – 768 029,

Dist. Bargarh, Orissa, India.