Angikam.. First Impressions of Odissi Dance Elements!

The ABCDs of movements..

4 min readApr 2, 2025

जगन्नाथः स्वामी! नयन-पथ-गामी! भवतु मे

May Lord Jagannatha be the walker in the pathway of my eyes! May he be the goal, the journey, the destination!

Last few days, was absorbed into Odissi. I was reflecting.. Yoga is said to be means of Unity through body, mind and breath.. Dancing seemed a similar pathway for that sublime and divine Unity. And a way of passing time..

Odissi felt like a confluence of many things. It felt like the graceful temple idols springing into action. In that squarish chowka stance and raised arms like the idol of Jagannatha, the dancing legs drumming the ground, and the nimble hands playing drums to the sound of dha..iti..nakka..dini

And that feet landing timed with palm rolling, slowly sliding away the torso.. Like Newtons Action-Reaction, and firing strings of inner anatomy in action! And The S like curves and asymmetric bends of Tribangi!

To merge into realms of Space and Time.. Ears and feet following music, hands following the feet, and head and eyes following the hands.. A divine orchestration to feel!

Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra https://x.com/BijayBiswaal/status/1347505627740983296/photo/2

What Geometry and Alignment! That stable chowka stance with Increased Center of Mass allowing the drift of torso. And the techniques of takeoff and levitation.. And the Yoga connections. Amidst the movements, that sublime spatial awareness and that Unity!

That elaborate Sanskrit Diction..Much like the ABCDs of a language, each of the movements and expressions codified in such detail. How else could such timeless knowledge be transmitted? Our seers were extraordinary. Ode to the teachers! The Nāṭya Śāstra and Abhinaya Darpaṇa! Shree Gurubhyo Namah!

On mudras.. Hasta Bhedas.. Hand gestures

Modate iti mudra.. The mudras help in expressing a whole range of emotions. When I first heard of pataaka mudra.. Meaning ‘flag’. It literally points the four fingers. It made me think. Ah, dont we use it in everyday conversations? Back in India, hand gestures are so common. Did we not use it all the time? Flagging and pointing at things in different directions— whether with wonder, or curiosity!

Pataka Hasta… The Flag Mudra

That lady? This boy? Wait! Come in! No No!

Ah, there is a whole verse by Bharata Muni on pataka hasta viniyoga explaining the utility of this mudra. From physical, temporal, and even the grammar angle.

From opening the doors of stage, depicting the vast sky, showing rain, wind and rivers, marking the passage of months, and actions like blessings, taking an oath, galloping of horses, and sword fighting, sweeping.

“नाट्यारम्भे वारिकर्मणि वने वायौ गगनादिके
वृक्षे तोये नदीदर्शे चन्द्रिकायां तथा शुचौ
ताप शापाभिसम्पाते सप्तविभक्तिदर्शने
केशाभावे खड्गक्षेपे तुरङ्गे गमनक्रमे ”

https://in.pinterest.com/pin/403494447862157116/

Its cousin, tripaTaka mudra.. The ring finger folded, and now we have three sets of pointers or flags.. And used for beautiful pointing of crowns, trees..
And the other hand gestures can convey a range of meanings.. The hand mudras of Gods and Goddesses! The offering of flowers! The delightful play of musical instruments.. Holding of flute, plucking of veena, the play of drums!

A lot of Odissi Dances seem to be based on Gita Govindam.. The depiction of Radha Krishna and Spring.. The stories of Dasavataara.. The palms gliding to form matsya, kurma, varaaha, garuDa.. And then Vishnu’s Shanka Chakra..

Single hand gestures are called asamyukta hasta bhedas and double hand gestures known as samyukta. It was interesting to learn that the crab mudra interlocking the fingers of both palms could represent crowd or assembly.

Such eloborate Hasta Bhedas, the the diction and types of hand gestures!

The versatile feet stepings.. Paada bhedas..

What is dance without its elaborate elegant footwork! While chowka defines the basic steady structure with the feet seperated like a square, in kumbha paada, the two feet slightly tiptoe, make it seem like the base of a pot. Beautiful right? And the Krishna pose with one leg crossed in the front of the other is called dhanu paada, like the footing of a majestic bow dhanu. In swastika paada, a quick jump and criss-cross of feet like the 4 blades of swastika.

Paada Bhedas.. The diction and types of feet movement..

Shiro Bheda.. KanTa bheda.. DrisTi bheda..

Movement of the head.. of the neck.. of the eyes..
Imagine a lock of hair dangling on your left side..You would look down rightwards and quickly lift your head leftwards.. What a graceful action. Everything is highlighted exagarated.. Utkshipta shirobheda.. That sideward glance..That backward glance prusTa.. That nodding of the head in agreement kampita.. in disagreement anDolita..

Took help of ChatGPT to list down the asamyukta and samyukta mudras, the single hand and two hand based gestures. And asked it to list down the viniyoga, the ways of using a mudra to emote different actings. Quite good right?

A very graceful dance it is.. जगन्नाथः स्वामी! नयन-पथ-गामी! भवतु मे.. Shree gurubhyo namah.. Gratitude to the online forums and all the teachers!