Sri Geetagovinda Pratisthana
Sri Geetagovinda Pratisthana, Puducherry is a non-profit charitable trust engaged in the promotion and propagation of Indian and Orissan culture. The main object of the trust shall be to preserve, promote and enrich the heritage of Sri Geetagovinda and Sri Jayadeva, Srimandira and Srikshetra, the cultural and artistic heritage of Orissa in general and of Odissi Sangeeta, Geeta, Vadya and Nritya in particular, and in pan – Indian context, the cultural and artistic heritage of India.
The trust will foster, encourage, support and undertake the cultural documentation, including documentation of oral heritage by utilizing all available formats including those for the multimedia and digital libraries, the scope of documentation to include, among others, compilation of musical notations, video records of musical and dance performances, of paintings, etchings and manuscripts as well as digital records in audio, photographic, video and other available formats, of relevant materials

The Trust was founded in 2001 by Late Dr. Raghunath Pani – noted teacher, educationist, scholar and cultural organizer from Orissa who dedicated his entire life for holistic development of mind, body, heart and soul of his students through integral education based on the teachings of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. Dr Raghunath Pani composed a geeti-natya or dance-drama which weaved the life and legends of Jayadeva into the narrative of Geetagovinda in Odissi style in the early 1960s and played a vital role in popularizing this great classic.

Sri Geetagovinda Pratisthana is committed to bring out authentic text, music and dance compositions of Jayadeva’s Geetagovinda, with a special emphasis on retaining and enriching the artistic and cultural heritage of Orissa, of which, it is perhaps the finest specimen.

The Trust has been engaged in a major research project to bring out the authentic text of Jayadeva’s Geetagovinda through a team of scholars and experts. This will soon be published as a book and provide for the first time the authentic original text, anwaya, pratipadartha, sarala bhavartha. Based on this authentic text, the Trust has produced this major musical composition – Sampoorna Geetagovinda covering the entire classic consisting of its twenty-four songs and seventy-two slokas. This is a unique and first ever attempt in this direction. The swaralipi or musical notations are also being published by the Trust separately.

A few of these songs were presented in the Bhakti Utsav at Delhi in 2006. Padmashree Guru Gangadhar Pradhan, Odissi Maestro who has inherited the legacy of Guru Pankaj Charan Das and Guru Kelu Charan Mahapatra has taken up choreography of this music composition in Odissi dance. Senior dancers – Sharmila Biswas, Aruna Mohanty, Meera Das and Jyoti Srivastava have performed some of these newly choreographed compositions in major festivals like Konark Festival, Mukteswar Festival at Bhubaneswar, Srikshetra Utsav at Puri, International Dance festival at Bhubaneswar, Jayadev Utsav at Delhi and pieces have also been performed in USA.

The Trust has a website dedicated to Jayadeva and Geetagovinda.

The Founder Dr Raghunath Pani was born on 20th July 1923 in the village Gurandi near Paralakhemundi of Ganjam district of Orissa state. He belongs to an established family of purohits who served the erstwhile Maharaja of Paralakhemundi, as family priests engaged in the traditional worship of private temple deities belonging to the family. The family was also well known for their melodious traditional musical renderings in the temple and in the court of the Maharaja. His tenacity and undaunted spirit in joyful struggle made him the first PhD in Education from Utkal University in 1968.

A pathfinder and a pacesetter with multidimensional experience in all fields and aspects of education from pre-primary to postgraduate and from teaching to research and administration he brought Physical and Art Education to the fore of the Core-Curriculum at the National level and restored education to its intrinsic dignity   (more) Integral education has been the specialisation of his career.  His works on education, specially his magnum opus Integral Education: Thought and Practice is acclaimed as a fundamental contribution to the development of New Education in the country. Music has been closest to Dr Pani’s heart and in his younger days he developed a rare combination of vocal renderings in the classical Hindustani and traditional Odissi style, while playing the veena in the traditional Carnatic style. Composing music and directing dance-dramas have been his hobby and passion. Dr Pani was a singer of light classical music at All India Radio, Ranchi and Kolkata stations during 1940’s and 1950’s. Dr Pani came in contact with The Mother of Sri Aurobindo Ashram in 1955. With her overwhelming grace, his musical and dramatic talent blossomed and he composed music for several dance itema and dance dramas. He also became active in organising cultural events and organisations. In the late nineteen fiftees he played a pioneering role in establishing Kala Niketan at Koraput, a relatively remote area in Southern Orissa. He considered his life as an eternal pilgrimage in the cause of integral education that addressed the total needs of the mind, body, heart and soul of his students he so dearly loved. In the late nineteen fifties he wrote a dance drama on Jayadeva and Geetagovinda and enacted this with the help of Odissi gurus Trinath Maharana and Natabara Maharana. He later refined this with the choreography of legendary guru Pankaj Charan Das who was assisted in this by then very young Gangadhar Pradhan.This sowed the first seeds of a great revival of interest in Jayadeva and Geetagovinda and with the active involvement and contribution of his son this is today a vibrant movement. Dr Raghu Nath Pani will be remembered as a great teacher, a dedicated institution builder and a fine cultural organiser. In his last years that he spent at Puducherry, he founded Sri Geetagovinda Pratisthana to carry on the work of rediscovering India’s cultural heritage and especially the heritage of Jayadeva and Geetagovinda.