Pandit Shyama Charan Pati with a student.A Telegraph picture

Ranchi, Feb. 3: Chhau exponent Pandit Shyama Charan Pati, nominated for Padmashree, is at daggers with the state government over the controversy on his recommendation for the prestigious award.

Pati?s name was announced in the list of Padmashree recipients on the eve of Republic Day.

Refuting charges of lobbying for the award, Pati said his name had been formally forwarded by the state government.

?The Centre will not know me till the state sends my credentials and the list of my achievements. I have worked hard and my labour has reaped results,? Pati explained.

Thwarting controversies related to his residence and domicile, he further said he was born in Jharkhand and a controversy was being sparked off by his rivals who also practised the dance form.

At a one-on-one with The Telegraph, Pati said he was born at Icha, a small village few kilometres off Chaibasa and had grown up there learning the dance form. He added that he owned agricultural land in the village and often stayed in his ancestral house.

?However, to promote chhau, often I had to come out of my village. Staying in the village, I would not have been able to showcase the dance form to a larger audience. Other forms of classical dance are popular because they have been packaged. I have tried the same with Chhau, but this does not mean I do not belong to the state,? the guru said.

Pati, who spends most of his time globetrotting, staging shows, is also keen on lending a hand to his daughter in the UK.

Pati?s daughter runs a chhau dance teaching school abroad where the guru wants to spend time to teach foreign students interested in learning the traditional dance form of the state.

He is particularly keen on introducing girls into the dance form, which has been dominated by men.