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Guru Gopinath Swain
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Culture & heritage · Odisha

A hundred years of Krishna Leela

Guru Gopinath Swain learned the songs of Krishna Leela as a boy of ten in 1920s Odisha. He was still teaching them a century later.

Guru Gopinath Swainगुरु गोपीनाथ स्वैन
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Guru Gopinath Swain receives the Padma Shri from President Droupadi Murmu, 2024. Photo: The New Indian Express

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Born
15 February 1918
Died
2 October 2025, aged 107
Village
Govindapur, Sheragada block, Ganjam, Odisha
Tradition
Krishna Leela; Odissi music
107years of life
~10his age when he began learning
2024Padma Shri

A century-long life

Guru Gopinath Swain lived for more than a hundred years, and spent much of that time caring for Odisha’s Krishna Leela musical tradition. According to his official Padma citation, he began learning Krishna Leela at about ten, from his family and the guru tradition. His main repertoire was the Krishna Leela of the 18th-century poet Dukhisyama Dasa.

Keeping rare ragas alive

He did more than perform. He was a guru who could remember, sing and teach rare Odissi ragas, alapa and traditional compositions. He saved old manuscripts and oral material, and trained many students through akhadas. His recordings on AIR Berhampur and a Doordarshan interview gave the tradition a place in the archives too.

Recognition at the end of a long road

The Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi honoured him, and in 2024 he received the Padma Shri. He died on 2 October 2025, at the age of 107.

His story shows that saving heritage is sometimes less about keeping objects in a museum and more about keeping a living way of performing alive in a person’s memory and voice, and passing it on before it is gone.

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