Jiwan Pani

Jiwan Pani joined the Sangeet Natak Akademi in 197. In December 1983 he was appointed the Director of the Kathak Kendra, New Delhi, and continued to hold the post until he retired in 1994. The Orissa Sangeet Natak Akademi conferred on him an award for his outstanding study of the performing arts of Orissa. His in-depth studies of Chhau and Oddissi dance forms, and puppets and masks of India are truly pioneering works. In 1997 Jiwan Pani received the Sahitya Akademi Award for his Oriya translation of Federico Garcia Lorca's poems. One of the leading poets and lyricists in Oriya, he has published a collection of poems in Oriya, a monograph on the Ravanachhaya, another on the Purulia Chhau dance. His other publications include The World of Other Faces: The Masks of India; The Living Dolls: The Story of Indian Puppetry and Celebration of Life: Folk Dances of India.