Shimla Kalibari celebrates 200 years

Shimla, April 17 : Shimla Kalibari Temple to mark the celebration of its 200  organised a cultural evening where Gaudiya Nritya: is one of those Indian classical dance form, it has deep rooted history of everything like drama, poetry, music and shastra was performed. This Indian dance form is a classical Bengali dance style which is originated from Gauda, which is also known as Gaud (capital city of Bengal) in Bengal. This Indian dance form has been recognized as Indian classical dance by the Ministry of Culture and is also eligible for Junior scholarships since 1996 and Senior scholarship and fellowship since 1997 from the Ministry of Culture, Government of India.
A dance form was lost in the sands of time. One individual labored hard for 53 years, studied the scriptures, travelled to remote locations to study the carvings on ancient temples. She persevered, gave it her all and dedicated her life to this art.

Mahua Mukherjee is an exponent, pioneer researcher who has revived the Indian classical dance form Gaudiya nritya. She is a Senior Professor of Department of Dance and former Dean of faculty of fine arts of Rabindra Bharati University. Along with her husband, Amitava Mukherjee, she has been reviving the dance style through her career from 1980s. She has also given performances and lectures as Fulbright visiting professor at the University of Oklahoma, USA. She has also served as Tagore Chair Professor in University of Dhaka for two years.

Mahua Mukherjee has learned dance from several gurus, such as Shashi Mahato (Nachni), Narottam Sanyal (kirtan), Padmashree Gambhir Singh Mudha (Chhow), Padma Bhushan Kalanidhi Narayanan (Abhinaya), Guru Manabendu Bandyopadhyay (shastra), etc.

Mahua Mukherjee is also the founder dance Director of the Institute Gaudiya Nritya Bharati and former Director of Mitrayan. She has also been the subject of a poem written by Nigerian writer Tanure Ojaide published in his collection ‘the beauty I have seen: a trilogy’.

She has about 20 books and more than 180 articles to her credit. More than 50 students have received junior and senior scholarships and fellowships from Government of India under her guidance.

Recently Shimla Kalibari, Himachal Pradesh an autonomous organization of Shimla celebrated 200 years of Shimla Kalibari on 15 April 2023. Gaudiya Nritya repertoire Ganesh Vandana, Alapchari, Shivashtakam, Ambika Stuti & Krishna Ram Katha was performed by Prof. Dr. Mahua Mukherjee & other participants include Dr. Soumya Bhowmick, Indranil Ghosh, Ananya Ghosh, MD. Romon Islam (Bangladesh), Koushik Shaw, Jayanta Biswas, Sridip Karmakar, Saheli Paul and Sayantika Majumder and music directed by Pandit Amitava Mukherjee.

In the celebrations of 200 years of Kali Bari the president Mr N.K.Banerjee, Vice-president Mr M.K.Chaudhuri, Secretary Mr Somnath Pramanik invited all the members, guests and devotees of Simla Kali Bari to grace the occasion. The executive committee members along with senior members were present on the occasion viz. Mr Somnath Pramanik, Mr Sujit Mukherjee, Dr Kallol Pramanick, Mr Ranjit Roy, Mr Homi Chatterjee, Mr Vikas Dass, Mr P.K.Namhata, Mr S.K.Majumder, Mr A.K.Banerjee, Mr P.K.Mitra, Dr Him Chatterjee, Dr Malay Sarkar and others.
Coordinator: Dr Kallol Pramanick