With the passing of Guru Mayadhar Raut—often regarded as one of the 'fathers of Odissi Natya'—the nation has lost yet another legend. This is my humble tribute to a colleague whom I knew from the day he joined Kalakshetra in the year 1955. While teaching at the  Kala Vikas Kendra (an organisation engaged in professional training for several arts) in Cuttack as the first teacher of Odissi, he won a scholarship in 1955 from the Orissa branch of Sangeet Natak Akademi to pursue training in Bharatanatyam and Kathakali at the Kalakshetra Foundation, Madras. We stayed at the Kalakshetra hostel, which gave us the advantage of learning and practicing the arts in a gurukulam-style environment.

Mayadhar Anna, as we fondly called him, was already an experienced Odissi teacher at a time when the style was not widely known or discussed. As a senior, he guided us in many ways, while we, in turn, shared our knowledge of the fundamentals of Kathakali and Bharatanatyam with him.

He motivated us to practice early in the mornings and put in rigorous effort to catch up with our level in the new style he was immersing himself in. He joined us in dance drama productions, including the Ramayana series, performing character roles. His prime student, Sanjukta Misra (later known as Sanjukta Panigrahi), joined Kalakshetra a year later, introducing us to Odissi Natya. Whenever she had free time, Anna ensured that Sanjukta continued practicing her Odissi.

Later, Anna's colleague, Kelucharan Mohapatra, also visited Kalakshetra to closely observe Sanjukta's progress. Indeed, these three—Mayadhar Raut, Kelucharan Mohapatra, and Sanjukta Panigrahi—were instrumental in revitalising Odissi and elevating it to the global stage

I have been constantly in touch with Mayadhar Anna and his illustrious daughter Madhumita Raut who imbibed the mantle continuing the legacy. We never failed to visit him in Delhi and spend long hours in nostalgic conversation. I brought him to participate in the Natyakala Conference (NKC) showcasing his abhinaya proves  which he imbibed from his Kathakali training under guru T.K.Chanduppanikkar at Kalakshetra. 

In 1973, we had a significant opportunity to participate in the India Festival in Paris under the French National Theatre, Théâtre de la Ville, alongside his prime disciple, Aloka Panikkar.

The Kalakshetra training enabled him to choreograph dance-dramas such as Tapaswini, Meghdoot, Brij Leela, Singhala Kumari, Krishna Charitam, and Geeta Govindam. 

I understand from Madhumita Raut that the end came so peacefully and coincidently, apart from family members, including grandchildren, many of his students were in Delhi celebrating his 92nd birthday.  A happy soul will always be in our memory. 

A Tribute by

V.P.Dhananjayan & Shanta Dhananjayan