Odissi music (, ) is a genre of classical music originating from the eastern state of Odisha. Rooted in the ancient ritual music tradition dedicated to the deity Jagannatha, Odissi music has a rich history spanning over two thousand years, distinguished by its unique sangita-shastras (musical treatises), a specialized system of Ragas and Talas, and a distinctive style of performance characterised by specific modulations such as the āndolita and the kurāla. Odissi compositions are largely written in Sanskrit and Odia.
The various compositional forms of Odissi music include Odissi Prabandha, Chaupadi, Chhanda, Champu, Chautisa, Janāna, Mālasri, Bhajana, Sarimāna, Jhulā, Kuduka, Koili, Poi, Boli, and more. Presentation dynamics are roughly classified into four: rāgānga, bhābānga, nātyānga and dhrubapadānga. Some great composer-poets of the Odissi tradition are the 12th-century poet Jayadeva, Krupasiddhā Balarama Dasa, Atibadi Jagannatha Dasa, Dinakrusna Dasa, Kabi Samrata Upendra Bhanja, Banamali Dasa, Kabisurjya Baladeba Ratha, Kabikalahansa Gopalakrusna Pattanayaka and Abhimanyu Samanta Singhara.
According to Bharata Muni's Natya Shastra, Indian classical music has four significant branches: Avanti, Panchali, Odramagadhi and Dakshinatya. Of these, Odramagadhi exists in the form of Odissi music. Odissi music had already crystallised as an independent style by the time of the early medieval Odia poet Jayadeva, who composed lyrics meant to be sung, set to ragas and talas unique to the local tradition. However, Odissi songs were written even before the Odia language developed. Odissi music has a rich legacy dating back to the 2nd century BCE, when king Kharavela, the ruler of Odisha (Kalinga), patronized this music and dance.
The traditional artforms of Odisha such as Mahari, Gotipua, Prahallada Nataka, Radha Prema Lila, Pala, Dasakathia, Bharata Lila, Khanjani Bhajana and more are all based on Odissi music. Odissi dance, one of the classical dances of India from the state of Odisha, is performed solely with Odissi music.
History
Ritual music of Jagannatha Temple Odissi music is intimately and inextricably associated with the Jagannatha temple of Puri, where it is a ritual service to the deity. The deity of Jagannatha is at the heart of Odisha's culture, and Odissi music was originally the music offered as a sevā or service to Jagannatha. Every night during the Badasinghara or the last ritual of the deity, the Gitagovinda of Jayadeva is sung, set to traditional Odissi ragas & talas. This tradition has continued unbroken since the time of Jayadeva, who himself used to sing in the temple. After the time of the poet, the singing of the Gitagovinda according to the authentic Odissi ragas & talas was instated as a mandatory sevā at the temple, to be performed by the Maharis or Devadasis, systematically recorded in inscriptions, the Mādalā Pānji and other official documents that describe the functioning of the temple. To this date, the Jagannatha temple remains the fountainhead of Odissi music and the most ancient & authentic compositions (including a few archaic Odia chhandas and jananas by Jayadeva himself) survive in the temple tradition, although the Devadasis are no more found owing to their systematic eradication by the British government.
Prehistoric music Ancient Odisha had a rich culture of music, which is substantiated by many archaeological excavation throughout the state of Odisha. At Sankarjang in the Angul district, the initial spade work exposed the cultural stratum of the Chalcolithic period (400 BC onward). From here, polished stone celts and hand-made pottery have been excavated. Some of the Celts are narrow but large in size. Thus they are described as Bar-celts. On the basis of bar-celts discovered in Sankarjung it could be argued that they were an earlier musical instrument in India. Scholars have referred to these as the earliest discovered musical instruments of South East Asia.
Kharabela & Ancient Caves There are vivid sculptures of musical instruments, singing and dancing postures of damsels in the Ranigumpha Caves in Khandagiri and Udayagiri at Bhubaneswar. These caves were built during the reign of the Jain ruler Kharabela of Kalinga in the 2nd century BC. In inscriptions, Kharabela has been described as an expert in classical music (gandhaba-beda budho) and a great patron of music (nata-gita-badita sandasanahi). Madanlal Vyas describes him as an expert who had organized a music programme where sixty four instruments were played in tandem. Kharabela was an emperor of the Chedi dynasty. Chedi was the son of Kousika, a Raga that is said to have been created by sage Kasyapa according to Naradiya Sikhya. The ancient musicologists of Odisha, like Harichandana belonged to the Naradiya school. The Raga Kousika is an extremely popular raga in the Odissi tradition, even until date.
One of the caves of Udayagiri is known as the Bajaghara Gumpha, literally meaning 'hall of musical instruments'. It is designed such that any musical recital inside is amplified by the acoustics of the cave.
Sculpture In the temples of Odisha, oldest among them dating to the 6th century AD, such as Parasuramesvara, Muktesvara, Lingaraja and Konarka, there are hundreds of sculptures depicting musical performances and dancing postures.
Natya Shastra of Bharata Muni Bharata's Natya Shastra is the most respected ancient treatise on Indian music & dance. Bharata in his seminal work has mentioned four different 'pravrittis' of natya (which includes both music & dance). The classification into pravrittis can be roughly said to be a stylistic classification, based on unique features of the regional styles that were distinctive enough in Bharata's time. The four pravrittis mentioned are Avanti, Dakshinatya, Panchali and Odramagadhi (or Udramagadhi). Odra is an ancient name of Odisha. Parts of ancient Kalinga, Kangoda, Dakhina Kosala, Tosali, Matsya Desa, Udra now constitute the state of Odisha. The classical music that prevailed in these regions was known as Udramagadhi. The post-Jayadeva text Sangita Ratnakara also makes a reference to the same. In the present times, it is this very system that goes under the rubric Odissi music.
Tradition
Charyapada and Buddhist Music For a long period Buddhism was the major religion of Odisha. The Vajrayana and Sahajayana branches of Buddhism were particularly influential, and scholars opine that Odisha or Oddiyana was the birth place of Vajrayana itself. Between the seventh and eleventh centuries, the Charya Gitika of Buddhist Mahasiddhas or Siddhacharyas were written and composed. Many of the Mahasiddhas were born in Odisha and wrote in a language that is extremely close to present-day Odia. Some of these songs were ritually sung on the ratha of Jagannatha during the Ratha Jatra.
The Charyapadas or Charya songs usually consist of five or six padas. The last pada bears the name of the poet. The ragas to sing them have been indicated by the authors themselves, but no mention of tala is found. The ragas used by the Mahasiddhas continued to be popular in Odissi music for centuries afterwards, and remain important to this day. Many of the raga names as written bear significant resemblance with the raga nomenclature of Odisha & the pronunciations of raga names in the Odissi tradition, such as the mention of Baradi and not Varali. Some of the ragas mentioned in the Charyapadas are : +Raga name as mentioned in the CharyapadasPresent-day raga name in Odissi musicAruBangālaBangālaBarādīBarādīBhairabīBhairabīDebakrīDebakirīDeśākhaDeśākhyaDhanāśrīDhanāśrīGabadāGaudāGunjarīGujjarīKāhnu GunjarīKāmodaKāmodaMallārīMālasīMālaśrīMālasī GabudāMālaśrī GaudāRāmakrīRāmakerīŚābarīŚābarī
Jayadeva and Gita Govinda
The Gitagovinda written by 12th-century poet Jayadeva is known to be one of the earliest, if not the earliest Indian song where the author has indicated with precision the exact raga and tala (mode of singing and the rhythm) of each song. This makes it one of the earliest texts of Indian classical music. Many of the ragas indicated in the Gitagovinda continue to be highly popular in Odissi music even now, and some of the talas mentioned in it are exclusive to the tradition of Odissi music.
These indications have been compiled below according to the ashtapadi number, based on the important ancient copies of the Gita Govinda and its commentaries such as Sarvangasundari Tika of Narayana Dasa (14th century), Dharanidhara's Tika (16th century), Jagannatha Mishra's Tika (16th century), Rasikapriya of Rana Kumbha (16th century) and Arthagobinda of Bajuri Dasa (17th century).
Mālava, Mālavagauḍa or Mālavagauḍā Maṅgala Gujjarī or Gurjarī Basanta Rāmakirī or Rāmakerī Gujjarī or Gurjarī Guṇḍakirī or Guṇḍakerī or Mālavagauḍa Gujjarī or Gurjarī Karṇṇāṭa Deśākhya or Deśākṣa Deśī Barāḍi or Deśa Barāḍi or Pañchama Barāḍi Gujjarī or Gurjarī Guṇḍakirī or Guṇḍakerī Mālava or Mālavagauḍā Basanta Gujjarī or Gurjarī Barāḍi or Deśa Barāḍi or Deśī Barāḍi Bhairabī Gujjarī or Gurjarī or Rāmakerī Deśī or Deśa Barāḍi Basanta Barāḍi or Deśa Barāḍi Barāḍi Rāmakirī or Rāmakerī or Bibhāsa Rāmakirī or Rāmakerī
Most of the ragas and talas indicated by Jayadeva, with the exception of one or two, continue to be in practice in the tradition of Odissi music.
The poet Jayadeva is known to have started the Mahari or Devadasi tradition at the Jagannatha temple of Puri, where every night the Gitagovinda is ritually sung & enacted in front of Jagannatha, continuing to this day. In the Jayabijaya Dwara inscription of Prataparudra Deba, the singing of Gitagovinda and adherence to the traditional Odissi ragas indicated by the poet has been referred to as mandatory. The Maharis were also banned from learning any other songs except the Gitagovinda; this was considered an 'act of defiance towards Jagannatha'.
Pt. Raghunath Panigrahi is known for his contributions in popularising the Gitagovinda through Odissi music & Odissi dance across the globe. Scholar-musicians such as Guru Gopal Chandra Panda have also attempted to reconstruct melodies of the ashtapadis of the Gita Govinda in adherence to the poet's original indications, and based on extant traditional rhythmic & melodic patterns in Odissi music.
Gopala Nayaka During the reign of Alauddin Khilji, Gopala Nayaka had an important role of popularising old Indian music. Some scholars from Odisha in the first part of the 20th century have written about local legend that states Gopala Nayaka was from Odisha.
After the reign of Mukunda Deba in the 16th century, Odissi music suffered during the Maratha rule in Odisha during the 17th and 18th century AD.
British rule
During the 18th and 19th centuries, Odissi music was chiefly patronised by local kings of princely states of Odisha. This included the Gajapati of Puri as well as the rulers of the kingdoms of Paralakhemundi, Mayurbhanj, Ghumusara, Athagada, Athagada Patana, Digapahandi (Badakhemundi), Khallikote, Sanakhemundi, Chikiti, Surangi, Jeypore, Ali, Kanika, Dhenkanal, Banapur, Sonepur, Baramba, Nilgiri, Nayagarh, Tigiria, Baudh, Daspalla, Bamanda (Bamra), Narasinghapur, Athamallik as well as places with a significant Odia population and cultural history such as Tarala (Tharlakota), Jalantara (Jalantrakota), Manjusa (Mandasa), Tikili (Tekkali) and Sadheikala (Seraikela). Rulers often patronised poet-composers and skilled musicians, vocalists and instrumentalists. Musicians were appointed in royal courts and honoured with land or other rewards. Many kings were themselves skilled musicians and poets, such as Gajapati Kapilendra Deba of Puri or Biswambhara Rajendradeba of Chikiti.
Treatises