Guru Maguni Charan Das received the Padma Shri for his contribution to which dance?

Explanation

Guru Maguni Charan Das was a renowned guru of Gotipua, the traditional dance of Odisha performed by young boys dressed as girls. He received the Padma Shri for his lifelong work to preserve and teach this ancient tradition.

Maguni Charan Das devoted his life to the Gotipua tradition, which had declined in the 20th century. He trained many young boys in the dance, formed troupes and performed at festivals in India and abroad, helping to bring Gotipua to wider audiences and to keep it alive. Gotipua is closely connected with the village of Raghurajpur, near Puri, which is famous for its Gotipua troupes and is also a heritage crafts village known for Pattachitra painting.

In the Odia language, "goti" means single and "pua" means boy, so Gotipua means "single boy". The tradition emerged in the 16th century, when the mahari tradition (women dancers of the Jagannath temple at Puri) was in decline. Young boys, usually between the ages of six and fourteen, were trained to dance dressed as girls, in praise of Lord Jagannath and Lord Krishna. The boys learn acrobatic movements, such as bending backwards and forming difficult poses called "bandha", along with graceful dance steps, and they sing the songs themselves while dancing, usually compositions from the Gita Govinda of Jayadeva and the works of Odia poets. Once the boys grow older, they usually stop performing as Gotipua dancers. Gotipua played an important role in the revival of Odissi in the 20th century, and several great Odissi gurus, such as Kelucharan Mohapatra and Mayadhar Raut, began their careers as Gotipua dancers.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Chhau is a masked martial dance of eastern India, whose Odisha style is Mayurbhanj Chhau.
• ✗Dalkhai is a folk dance of western Odisha performed by women during Dussehra.
• ✗Sambalpuri dances are the folk dances of the Sambalpur region of western Odisha.