Manorjan News Desk !!! Birju Maharaj (real name- Brijmohan Nath Mishra, English: Birju Maharaj; Birth- 4 February 1938, Lucknow; Death- 17 January, 2022, Delhi) was one of India’s famous classical dance artists. He was the ‘Kathak’ style Acharya of Indian dance and a chief representative of the ‘Kalka-Bindadin’ gharana of Lucknow. It is a common practice to present Kathak dance with the synergy of rhythm and ghunguru, but when it comes to transfying the melody of Maharas, the talna and ghungurus are converted into the melody of Maharas, there is no other name except Birju Maharaj. Birju Maharaj’s whole life was spent in taking this art to the heights of the classic. He was awarded several awards including India’s second highest civilian honor ‘Padma Vibhushan’ (1986) and ‘Kalidas Samman’. He also received an honorary degree of doctorate from Banaras Hindu University and Khairagarh University.
Birth and education
Birju Maharaj was born on 4 February 1938 in Lucknow, ‘Kalka Bindadin Gharana’ in Uttar Pradesh. He was earlier named ‘Dukhharan’, which later changed to ‘Brijmohan Nath Mishra’.[1] His father’s name was Jagannath Maharaj, who was from ‘Lucknow Kharne’ and was known as Achchan Maharaj. Birju’s talent started appearing in the lap of Achchan Maharaj at just three years old. In view of this, the father started giving art initiation to his famous son from childhood. But after his father died soon, his uncles, well -known masters Shambhu and Lachhu Maharaj trained him. Birju Maharaj continued to get Lakshmi with the help of art. The father’s shadow woke up from his head when he was just nine years old.
Heritage
Birju Maharaj, a Kathak dance associated with Lord Krishna, inherited. His ancestor Ishwari Prasad Mishra was a resident of Handia Tehsil of Allahabad and is known as the first known teacher of Kathak. Thakur Prasad of this family was the Kathak Guru of Nawab Wajid Alishah. Birju Maharaj has no match in today’s time in terms of Kathak dance. At the age of just seven years with father Achchan Maharaj, he went to different parts of the country and started performing, but his first single presentation was in the ‘Manmathnath Gupta ceremony’ held in Bengal, where he He had performed his dance art in front. Then people got a glimpse of his talent and after that he never looked back.
Training work
While he included bold and intellectual works in the traditional dances of dance, his contemporary works have also been freshly filled with freshness. It was only after the death of his father that Birju Maharaj’s guru sister Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan brought him to Delhi with him. He started training in dancing in ‘Sangeet Bharati’ in Delhi at the age of swims. He also trained dance at Kathak Center affiliated to ‘Bharatiya Kala Kendra’ and ‘Sangeet Natak Akademi’.
First presentation
At the age of just 16, Birju Maharaj gave his first performance and at the age of 28, his mastery in Kathak gave him the prestigious award of ‘Sangeet Natak Akademi’. In classical dance, Birju Maharaj did not panic even with fusion. He presented the story of Romeo and Juliet with Louis Bank in Kathak style.
Nata with Hindi films
Birju Maharaj has a deep connection with Bollywood. He directed the songs of many Hindi films. These include the classical work ‘Chess Khiladi’ by eminent filmmaker Satyajit Rai. In this film, he also composed and sung music for two classical dance scenes. The names of famous filmmaker-director Yash Chopra’s ‘Dil To Pagal Hai’, ‘Gadar Ek Prem Katha’ and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film ‘Devdas’ can also be taken prominently.
Dance style
Birju Maharaj, famous for his precious rhythm and soulful acting, has developed a style that includes elements related to both his uncles and father. He claims the subtlety of the post and the driving of the mouth and neck from his father and the flow of specific tricks (tricks) and the flow of gait from his uncles.
New use
Birju Maharaj has made new experiments in the style of dance to express himself on various unpredictable and social subjects with a description of Radha-Krishna monitoring episodes. He has modernized the dance composition in the Kathak style, which was earlier an unknown element in the Indian dance style, modernized it and has prevalent the dance dramas.
Classical singer and player
Birju Maharaj is not only in the field of dance, but he also has a deep hold on ‘Indian classical music’. They have no answer in Thumri, Dadra, Bhajan and Ghazal singing. They also play many musical instruments very well. He has a very good grip on tabla. Apart from this, he can also play sitar, sarod and sarangi well. The special thing is that he has not taken education duly to play these instruments. He is also known as a sensitive poet and painter.
Prize and honor
Birju Maharaj has also received many awards and honors on the strength of his dance talent. He was awarded India’s second highest civilian honor ‘Padma Vibhushan’ in the year 1986. He has also been awarded ‘Kalidas Samman’. He has also received honorary doctors from ‘Banaras Hindu University’ and ‘Khairagarh University’. In the last several years, he has widely visited and has given many presentations and performances lectures.
Death
Kathak Emperor Pandit Birju Maharaj died on 17 January 2022. He was 83 years old. He breathed his last in Delhi late at night after a heart attack. Swansh Mishra, grandson of Birju Maharaj, who belongs to Lucknow Gharana, gave information about his death through posts on social media. His granddaughter said that- she (Birju Maharaj) would have turned 84 next month. He told that Maharaj-J [[परिवार] And surrounded the disciples and they were playing Antakshari after dinner that suddenly his health deteriorated. He was suffering from kidney disease and was undergoing dialysis treatment. He probably died of cardiac arrest.