Saraswati Kisan (50) is a famous figure in Deogarh district in Odisha these days. A proud Thia Pala Gayika, she is vice-president of the Zilla Kala Sanskruti Sangha and leader of her troupe, the Binapani Pala Parishad, Goudnali village.
Pala is a kind of folk ballad of Odisha that has two forms — Baithaki (sitting) and Thia (standing) — both in worship of lord Satyanarayana. A group of five or six comprises one main singer (gayak or gayika), a drummer (bayak) and a chorus (palia). The singer narrates Sanskrit verses from the Purana and explains them in Odia.
This unique art form remains popular in the State. Saraswati keeps busy with hundreds of shows and is even roped in as an ambassador for several government programmes.
“Her performance is praiseworthy,” says Manoranjan Suttar, culture officer, Deogarh. “A few years ago, her troupe represented our district at the Lok Kala Diwas in Bhubaneswar and won huge acclaim.”
Ironically, Saraswati Kisan made a mediocre start to life. Born into a large family of seven, she was the apple of her father’s eye but as a student, she proved no great success. She had barely emerged from her teens when she began losing her vision. Treatment proved futile.
Saraswati believes that her faith saved her eyesight at the time. “Lord Satyapir bailed me out,” she avows.
Two years since her eyesight had begun progressively fading, Saraswati was at a Pala sitting when she made a promise to the deity, Satyapir — “I will perform Thia Pala if my eyesight remains intact. Miraculously, things began improving slowly from then on,” she says
Around 1994, Pala stalwart Rabinarayana Panda chanced upon her at a programme in Ghanteswari Temple, Nuagaon, about 2 km from Goudnali. Panda, then president of Paschim Odisha Maa Samaleswari Pala Parishad, urged her to nurture her innate talent and gifted her a Chamar as a sort of talisman. (The Chamar is a flywhisk that the Pala Gayika flourishes during a performance.)
“Since then, my journey as a Pala Gayika has been on,” Saraswati says with a smile. “Every year, my troupe has been presenting about 200 shows at places including Bhubaneswar, and in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. We charge Rs 6,000-8,000 per show within Deogarh, but the fee shoots up to Rs 14,000 outside the district,” she adds.
Saraswati believes that just as God’s grace halted the decline in her vision, so did the stalwart Panda inspire her to be more than a run-of-the-mill singer. She is older and wiser, and her faith all the stronger for it.
As her husband, Patel Kisan, says, “Her professional success shows she has the blessings of Maa Saraswati, the Goddess of Wisdom.” Indeed, Saraswati has lived up to her name.
