Dekha go sakhi (odissi mahaari dance) by Barsharani Panda

Performed by BARSHA RANI PANDA Odissi draws heavily from the Gotipua and the Maharis dance tradition. The dancing girls or Maharis dedicated their lives to the worship of Lord Jagannath. They performed this sacred art in the sanctity of the temples. The Pahandi Bije ritual concluded amid the beating of drums, cymbals and gongs, as Lord Jagannath who followed his siblings, climbed up their respective chariots. ‘Pahandi’ ritual of Lord Jagannath is awaited by every devotee as the Lord of the universe comes out of the Srimandir’s sanctum sanctorum. The blowing of kahali, the clang of the ghanta, and the beating of the ‘telingi baja’ in a unique rhythmic movement slowly rising to a crescendo herald the beginning of their movement .