Snippets of Information - Dance
Gaudiya Nritya
* 18 Nov 2025
The repertoire of Gaudiya Nritya
* Bandana Nritya: The repertoire starts with Bandana. It is generally
sung in ancient Bengali or Sanskrit language. This is danced in praise
of Lord Krishna, Shiva, Saraswati and Ganesha.
* Mangalacharan: Different rasas are generally performed. It at least
takes 8 to 10 minutes. Dhak, pakhawaj and mridanga are used as
percussion.
* Alapchari: It is generally based on nritta - pure dance.
* Mahajanapada Nritya: Padas written by renowned literary artistes of
Bengal like Jayadeva, Bidyapati, Dwija Chandidas is called Mahajanapada.
Dances based on this is called Mahajanapada Nritya.
* Leela Keertan: Keertan means praising someone. This is based on praises of Gods and Goddesses.
* Pala Nritya: This is enactment of mythological stories. It is rich in
both nritta and nritya. In ancient Bengal, it used to continue for 7-8
days.
* Naishkramikee Nritya: It is the last part of the repertoire. Here the
dancer concludes his/her performance with sattvik bhava. The songs are
generally sung in Sanskrit language.
Source: Dance, Tagore and Gaudiya Nritya by Debolina Ghosh, narthaki.com, 18 Nov 2025
* 18 Nov 2025
Once Dr. Mahua Mukherjee visited Ananta Basudeb Mandir, located at
Bansberia of Hoogly in West Bengal. There she saw beautiful dancing
sculptures on the temple wall. That ignited her curiosity to know what
influenced the sculptor to make such beautiful dancing sculptures.
Afterward she intensively researched, collected fragments of sculptures,
learnt Sanskrit and learnt to read inscriptions to find the root of
such sculptures. Evidence of Gaudiya Nritya is also present in the
aharya abhinaya chapter of Natyasastra.
Source: Dance, Tagore and Gaudiya Nritya by Debolina Ghosh, narthaki.com, 18 Nov 2025
* 29 Aug 2025
Gaudiya Nritya which is encompassed under the Oudhra Magadhi
pravritti is the sole treasured classical dance of Bengal. It is not
only a classical dance form which abides by the tenets of Natyasastra
but it is also a platform which exhibits history, literature, temple
architecture, sculpture, folk music and dance of ancient Bengal. Like
Rukmini Devi's name is associated with Bharatanatyam, in the same way,
Dr. Mahua Mukherjee's name is associated with Gaudiya Nritya. Her strong
willpower and intense research have helped to shape the form. Dr.
Mukherjee has travelled all over Bengal to collect documents, scripts,
fragments of sculptures, observed architecture in the temple walls. She
learnt and practiced various folk dances of Bengal like Baul, Nachni,
Raybenshe and Chhau. All these are the building blocks of Gaudiya
Nritya. Keertan is the heart of Bengal's spiritual music and also the
base of Gaudiya Nritya repertoire. Gaudiya - the name is derived from
Gaur which was the capital of Bengal. The dance bears the glory of
Bengal.
Source: Muktir Ahwan in Gaudiya nritya by Debolina Ghosh, narthaki.com, 29 Aug 25
* 21 Nov 2022
Prof. Dr. Mahua Mukherjee, M.Sc., Ph.D. has done her Botany
specialisation in Cytogenetics from Calcutta University. She is the
Professor at the Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata and was the
Dean of the same institute from 2013 - 2016. With over 40 years of
research work she has revived and reestablished Gaudiya Nritya, a
classical Dance form of Bengal, which is more than 2000 years old along
with her husband Amitabh Mukherjee. She has also taught Gaudiya Nritya as a Fulbright Visiting Professor in Oklahoma Norman University, USA.
She has authored around 19 books on Dance and contributed
towards making of documentary films - Dance of God ( 1997), Trance In
Motion (2012), Ressurrection ( 2014, Parliament TV Channel), Gaudiya
Nritya - Golden Glory A Classical Dance of Bengal, ( 2017, Sangeet Natak
Akademi).
Source: nsnewswire.com
"Gaudiya means old Bengal and the Gaudiya Nritya which has
its origin in the Natyashastra, vanished from the scene because of lack
of patronage and political disturbances. This", says Mahua Mukherjee,
"can be attributed to the western influences on Bengal. While dance
forms like kathak and bharatanatyam flourished, gaudiya nritya just
disappeared." Mukherjee explains, "Gaudiya Nritya comprises chau which
is a heroic dance, nachni which is shringaar form, kushan which deals
with Luv Kush and has its roots in the Ramayan and the Kirtan, the
devotional aspect. Her gurus have been Padmashri Gambhur Singh Mudha for
Purulia Chau and Shashi Mahato for Nachni and Kirtannritya from
Narattam Sanyal.
She has learnt in the guru-shishya parampara style and tried to imbibe
the nuances of the dance form from them. Her performance was based on
the drama form, which was a narrative of stories from the mythologies
beautifully set to music and aesthetically breathtaking. "Gaudiya Nritya
reflects Bengal's physical structure too. The Sunderbans, the paddy
fields and the rivers flowing through it and the north, which is rigid
because of the Himalaya, characterized old Bengal. Gaudiya Nritya is
similar, it's both rigid and flexible". As Mahua Mukherjee remarks,
"Everything in Bengal is rounded. Even the pronunciation of words is
rounded. Similarly, even our dance form is very circular, with plenty of
Chakkars."
Source: artindia.net
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