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{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Deba Prasad Das
| image =
| imagesize =
| caption =
| birth_date = 1932
| birth_place = Keul Chabi Sua, [[Cuttack]], India
| death_date = 16 July 1986
| death_place =
| restingplace =
| restingplacecoordinates =
| othername =
| occupation = Classical dancer
| yearsactive =
| spouse =
| domesticpartner =
| children =
| parents = Durga Charan Das<br />Indramani Devi
| website = {{URL||Official web site}}
| awards = [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]]<br />Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi Award<br />World Development Corporation Award
}}
'''Deba Prasad Das''' was an Indian classical dancer, considered by critics and connoisseurs as one of the four first generation gurus of the Indian classical dance form of [[Odissi]]. His Odissi style is robust and unique.<ref name="Odissi Kala Kendra">{{cite web | url=http://odissi.itgo.com/cafe/debaprasad.html | title=Odissi Kala Kendra | publisher=Odissi Kala Kendra | date=2014 | accessdate=30 November 2014}}</ref><ref name="Olywa">{{cite web | url=http://www.olywa.net/ratna-david/gallery/ordissi/gurus/gurudeba.htm | title=Olywa | publisher=Olywa | date=2014 | accessdate=30 November 2014}}</ref> He was a recipient of the 1977 [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]].<ref name="Sangeet Natak Akademi">{{cite web|url=http://sangeetnatak.gov.in/sna/awardeeslist.htm |title=Sangeet Natak Akademi |publisher=Sangeet Natak Akademi |date=2014 |accessdate=30 November 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331060603/http://www.sangeetnatak.gov.in/sna/awardeeslist.htm |archivedate=31 March 2016 }}</ref> and 1974 Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.<ref name="OSNA">{{cite web | url=http://www.orissasangeetnatak.org/ | title=Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi Award | publisher=Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi | date=2004 | accessdate=1 December 2014 | format=pdf}}</ref>

==Biography==
Deba Prasad Das was born in 1932 in a [[Karan (caste)|Karana]] family<ref>{{cite book|title=Orissa Society of Americas 39th Annual Convention Souvenir: For Annual Convention Held in 2008 at Toronto, Canada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FPuADwAAQBAJ&pg=PA51|publisher=Odisha Society of the Americas|pages=51–|id=GGKEY:SJ6PLJNCGA4}}</ref> at a small village near Cuttack called Keul Chabi Sua, in the Indian state of Odisha to Indramani Devi and Durga Charan Das, a police officer.<ref name="Radhu Babu">{{cite web | url=http://www.radhubabu.com/minatimishra/gurudebaprasad.htm | title=Radhu Babu | publisher=Radhu Babu | date=2014 | accessdate=30 November 2014}}</ref><ref name="Guru Deba Prasad Das: Guru of Global Orissi">{{cite journal | url=http://www.narthaki.com/info/tdhc/tdhc23.html | title=Guru Deba Prasad Das: Guru of Global Orissi | author=Ashish Mohan Khokar | journal=Narthaki |date=November 2010 }}</ref> He lost his mother at an early age and was brought up by his grandfather who was a local violin player.<ref name="Radhu Babu" /> Das did his early schooling at Puri and started picking up music and dance at the age of six from a nearby traditional school (Pathara [[Akhara]]) run by Mohan Chandra Mohapatra.<ref name="Odissi Kala Kendra" /><ref name="Radhu Babu" /> However, he had to move to Behrampur when his father was transferred there.<ref name="Guru Deba Prasad Das: Guru of Global Orissi" />

When Das was 14, his father sent him to the music school of Radha Raman Ray, a music director working with ''New Theatres''.<ref name="Radhu Babu" /> He worked there for a monthly salary of approximately {{INR}} 3 plus food and assisted the performers in the green room. Soon, he worked his way up as a gate man, a ticket collector and finally as a prompter. The break came when Guru [[Pankaj Charan Das]] and later, Moha Mohapatra started associating themselves with the New theatre and Das got a small role, appearing only at the beginning of the dance cramas. Later, when New Theatres closed down in 1949, he moved to ''Annapurna''<ref name="Radhu Babu" /> and worked there for a few years where he had the opportunity to work alongside the renowned Odissi exponents such as [[Pankaj Charan Das]], [[Kelucharan Mohapatra]], Kumar Dayal Sharan and [[Mayadhar Raut]]. Annapurna also became defunct by 1953 by which time Deb Das had already mastered the dance form of Odissi.<ref name="Guru Deba Prasad Das: Guru of Global Orissi" />

The next move was to ''Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya'', a school of dance music, where Das joined as a faculty member for Odissi in 1964.<ref name="Radhu Babu" /> Here, he tutored [[Indrani Rahman]]<ref name="Guru Deba Prasad Das: Guru of Global Orissi" /> a [[Bharatanatyam]] dancer at that time, whom he taught [[Odissi]].<ref name="Radhu Babu" /><ref name="India's Dances: Their History, Technique, and Repertoire">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lif-Ct05aVgC&q=%22Indrani+Rehman%22&pg=PA210 | title=India's Dances: Their History, Technique, and Repertoire | publisher=Abhinav Publications | author=Reginald Massey | year=2004 | pages=210 | isbn=81-7017-434-1}}</ref> and the association with Rahman brought Das into public notice when the Rahman took her [[guru]] along with her for concerts.<ref name="Odissi Kala Kendra" /> In 1957, Indrani Rahman presented an Odissi demonstration choreographed by Deba Prasad Das at the Dance Festival and this performance is reported to have assisted Odissi to be taken notice as a classical dance form.<ref name="Guru Deba Prasad Das: Guru of Global Orissi" /> Later, in the same year, Rahman made her debut performance of Odissi at a show witnessed by [[Kapila Vatsyayan]], Charles Fabri<ref name="Charles Louis Fabri">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P8QrAAAAMAAJ | title=Charles Louis Fabri, his life and works | publisher=Sterling | author=Charles Louis Fabri | year=1980}}</ref> and others, and this is known to have brought the Deba Das style of Odissi into public notice.'Sabda Swara Pata' is an important feature of this style of Odissi.<ref name="Guru Deba Prasad Das: Guru of Global Orissi" />

Das, a representative of ''Gotipua'' Odissi culture<ref name="Odissi Kala Kendra" /><ref name="India Today">{{cite news | url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/story/19850415-angahar-festival-of-odissi-beams-rays-of-ecstasy-in-the-hearts-of-connoisseurs-in-delhi-769962-2013-12-05 | title=Angahar festival of Odissi beams rays of ecstasy in the hearts of connoisseurs in Delhi | date=5 December 2013 | publisher=India Today | first=Sunil | last=Kothari | accessdate=24 September 2018 }}</ref> and considered by many as one of the four first generation [[gurus]] of Odissi,<ref name="Odissi Kala Kendra" /><ref name="Olywa" /> is known to be founder of the ''Deba Prasad Gharana''.<ref name="Madhumita Misra">{{cite web | url=http://madhumitamisra.net/Gharana.php | title=Madhumita Misra | publisher=Madhumita Misra | date=2014 | accessdate=30 November 2014}}</ref><ref name="Odissi Dance By Sarita Mishra Dasavatara in Guru Deba Prasad Das style ">{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG6bHnunDgk | title=Odissi Dance By Sarita Mishra Dasavatara in Guru Deba Prasad Das style | publisher=YouTube | work=Video | date=24 June 2012 | accessdate=1 December 2014}}</ref> He had many disciples such as [[Indrani Rahman]], Bijayalaxmi Mohanty, [[Oopali Operajita]], Pushpa Mahanti, Srinath Raut, Sudhakar Sahoo, Durga Charan Ranbir, Dhuleswar Behera, Anita Singhdeo, Sangeeta Dash, Sujata Mishra, Ramli Ibrahim, Gajendra Panda, Manoj Behera, Gopa Biswhas, Gayatri Chand, Atashi Tripathy are among many others who have emerged as noted exponents of Odissi.<ref name="Guru Deba Prasad Das: Guru of Global Orissi" /> Notable [[Bharatanatyam]] [[guru]] Leela Ramanathan had also taken Odissi training under him. He has also choreographed many dance dramas and solo numbers.<ref name="Madhumita Misra" />

Deba Prasad Das died on 16 July 1986, aged 54.<ref name="Radhu Babu" /><ref name="Guru Deba Prasad Das: Guru of Global Orissi" />

==Awards and recognitions==
Recipient of Senior Research Fellowship from the [[Government of India]], Deba Prasad Das also received the World Development Corporation award in 1983<ref name="Radhu Babu" /> and the Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1974.<ref name="OSNA" /><ref name="Guru Deba Prasad Das: Guru of Global Orissi" /> [[Sangeet Natak Akademi]] honored him with their [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award|annual award]] in 1977.<ref name="Sangeet Natak Akademi" /> A book on him and his work "Guru Debaprasad Das: Icon of Odissi" was authored by Gayatri Chand, a senior dancer of Deba Prasad Das style, after 25 years of his demise in 2012.

==See also==
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Odissi]]
* [[Indrani Rahman]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lif-Ct05aVgC&q=%22Indrani+Rehman%22&pg=PA210 | title=India's Dances: Their History, Technique, and Repertoire | publisher=Abhinav Publications | author=Reginald Massey | year=2004 | pages=210 | isbn=81-7017-434-1}}

==External links==
* {{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG6bHnunDgk | title=Odissi Dance By Sarita Mishra Dasavatara in Guru Deba Prasad Das style | publisher=YouTube | work=Video | date=24 June 2012 | accessdate=1 December 2014}}
* {{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHoNesNP3hI | title=Shraddanjali - Homage to Deb Prasad Das | publisher=Youtube | work=Video | date=20 February 2012 | accessdate=1 December 2014}}
* {{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVwNFYRKqVc | title=Dance Choreographed by Deb Prasad Das | publisher=YouTube | work=Video | date=28 November 2010 | accessdate=1 December 2014}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Das, Deb Prasad}}
[[Category:1932 births]]
[[Category:1986 deaths]]
[[Category:Performers of Indian classical dance]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]]
[[Category:People from Cuttack district]]
[[Category:Odissi dancers]]
[[Category:Dancers from Odisha]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian dancers]]
[[Category:Indian male dancers]]

Deba Prasad Das - Revision history

CleanupBot II at 21:24, 13 August 2023