Question

I am sure that you have made mistake change to compound sentence

Answer 1

Gotipuas are boy dancers who dress as girls. They are the products of the ‘akhadas’ or

gymnasia which were set up by the King Ramachandra Deva in Puri. These akhadas provided

military training to young men who would protect the town and the temple from intruders.

The akhadas were like clubs, the main concern of which was gymnastics or the art of self-

defence. Those akhadas also served as nurseries where gotipua dancers were trained.

Gotipuas were also known as ‘akhadapilas’ because the boy dancers were generated by the

akhadasystem.There is another reason which explains the emergence of the gotipua tradition

in Odisha. There was a time when the Vaishnava religion did not approve of dancing by

women in temple. So, the practice of dancing by boys dressed as girls was introduced. The

gotipua dance had strong connection with what the maharis offered. The dance style of

gotipuas existed independently, although it had common roots with the dance style of the

maharis. The Odissi dance of today has grown from both these traditions, which are