After fighting for life for nearly two months, Odishi Guru Kanduri Charan Behera breathed his last at a city hospital here on Tuesday morning. He was 54 and is survived by two daughters and a son. His wife had passed away eight years ago.
A faculty member of the Bhubaneswar-based Government-owned Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Odissi Research Centre (ORC) for 23 years, he was hospitalised for prolonged periods for his heart and kidney problems, informed his family members. His kidneys failed and he was on dialysis, they revealed.
The highly humble and popular Odishi exponent was paid a meagre monthly salary of Rs 6,000.
The Chief Minister being the chairperson of the Odissi Research Centre, he should have taken personal interest in the ailing Guru in extending him timely treatment at the Government hospitals free-of-cost or some financial assistance for his treatment. But the ORC authorities didn’t even apply for any such assistance.
“Although the Government and the Odissi Research Centre did nothing to save my father, the Odishi community did their best for him,” stated Srutika, the ill-fated Guru’s teen-aged daughter, who was attending to him since he was hospitalised.
Kanduri Charan was born in Chasapada village near Chandanpur of Puri district. He commenced his career as a Gotipua dancer and later studied Odissi dance at the State-owned prestigious Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya. He had the privilege of learning under stalwarts like Gurus Pankaj Charan Das, Mahadev Rout, Kelucharan Mohapatra and Debaprasad Das. However, it was late Guru Gangadhar Pradhan who was his mentor and who did a lot to establish Kanduri Charan as an Odishi exponent.
Before being cremated in his village Chasapada, his body was taken to the two institutions that he was intimately associated with for decades - Odissi Research Centre and Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya - where his friends, colleagues and disciples paid their last respect to the departed soul.