Monday, August 26, 2013

Pandit Raghunath Panigrahi passes away

Eminent Indian classical singer and music director, better known as a noted vocalist of Jayadeva’s ‘Gita Govind’, Pandit Raghunath Panigrahi died of cardiac arrest at his residence here on 25th August. He was 80. 

The doyen of Odissi music had celebrated his 79th birthday on August 10. Pandit Panigrahi is survived by two sons. His wife, noted Odissi dancer Sanjukta Panigrahi, had passed away in 1997. Incidentally, Raghunath breathed his last, a day after his wife’s death anniversary on Saturday. 

Panigrahi’s effort to popularise poet Jayadeva’s ’Gita Govinda’, which has been hailed as the fountainhead of Odissi music, not just in the state but worldwide, has been praised by his admirers. Born at Gunupur in Odisha’s Rayaga (earlier Koraput) district, Panigrahi learnt from his father the classical way of singing ‘Gita Govinda’, which describes the unique relationship between Lord Krishna and the ‘Gopis’, as preserved in the traditions of the Lord Jagannath Temple in Puri.

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