Services towards Lord Jagannath may have been delayed in Puri, but His closest servitors, the two last surviving devadasis — Sashimani Devi and Parasmani Devi — devoted their services to the Lord at an event in Bhubaneswar.

As per tradition, devadasis or the temple ritual dancers of the Puri Jagannath temple used to perform different songs and dance for various special occasions of worship of the temple. But as these surviving devadasis are growing old, these rituals might be lost forever. The visitors of the city, who were present at the event held on Monday at the Rabindra Mandap, had the rare opportunity to watch some of these rituals performed by young dancers while Sashimani Devi and Parasmani Devi authenticated the rendition.

The programme, Pratyabartan 2011, began with a recital by veteran classical vocalist Shyamamani Devi of Singhari Shyamasundar Kar’s composition Mohanare bajana tu. This song was performed by devadasis within the temple, just for Lord Jagannath.

“Serving Lord Jagannath was the sole purpose of a devadsi’s life. She used to be married to the Lord,” said Soma Hota, an Odissi dancer and secretary of Devadasi Dance Academy that organised the event.

“Though the discontinuation of the tradition may be positive when it comes to the rights of the women who turned life-long devadasis, the sad part is that most of the rituals included their involvement with fascinating songs, all of which would fade away in a matter of a few years. This event is aimed at reminding people about the role of devadasis,” she said.

Mahari, the dance of the devadasis, was presented by Gayatri Khuntia and other dancers from Udayan cultural institute. The dancers performed Kuru Jadu Nandana to depict the bhitara gayana seba and other couplets from Gita Govinda to portray the devadsis role during patura seba, Chandan Jatra and so on.

One of the most impressive performances of the evening was a 23-minute dance drama based on devadasis’ life. This choreography of guru Kanduri Charan Behera was performed by Hota and the students of the Devadasi Dance Academy.

The last generation of devadasis were felicitated at the event. “With Lord Jagannath on the chariot, this was the perfect time to perform on the songs devoted to him,” said Hota, adding that the academy would come up with books and documentaries on the theme to keep the contribution of devadasis afresh in the minds of people.