Ritha Devi, born in a cultured and erudite family of Bengal and Assam, being the granddaughter of Sahityarathi Lakshminath Bezbaroa, Father of modern Asamiya literature, and great-grand-niece of India’s National Poet Rabindranath Tagore, has studied seven forms of Indian classical dance from the most orthodox Guru for each style … Manipuri, Bharatha Natyam, Kathakali, Mohiniattam, Sattriya Nritya, Kuchipudi and Odissi.... each in its entirety and traditional purity, but is most renowned, and acknowledged all over India and abroad, as a pioneer in the revival and international projection of the Mahari (Devadasi of the Shri Jagannatha temple at Puri, Orissa) tradition of the Odissi style, which she has studied, from 1963 onwards, from Adiguru Shri Pankaj Charan Das, direct descendant of the Maharis, and a trail-blazer in the renaissance of this tradition. She has received many honours and awards from reputed cultural organisations of Bombay and Orissa, and research-grants from the Central Government Sangeet Natak Akademi, which prestigious institution has also video-taped some of her dances, both traditional as well as those choreographed by her, for their archives.
She has performed in several major world tours, in the UK, USA, Russia and EU.
Ritha Devi has some pages dedicated to her in this book (pictured cover on the left). 'Women of the Tagore Household'
Purchased at fine cyber retailers:
"Women of The Tagore Household"