Friends,
The last India leg of Sutra Foundation’s travelling exhibition
‘Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom’ took place at the Visual Art Gallery, India Habitat Centre (New Delhi), on 7 April, 2026.
The exhibition, which had travelled to Chennai, Bhubaneswar and Pune, is presently being exhibited in New Delhi, till 9 April.
This unique exhibition, a tribute to Odia Renaissance Man, the late Dr Dinanath Pathy, featured works of 21 artists from Bhubaneswar, Chennai & Kuala Lumpur, celebrating the presence of Odissi in Malaysia for the last 4 decades.
Simultaneously, the exhibition is a manifestation of the soft cultural diplomacy borne of individual initiative, with no other agenda than a passionate love for the arts & culture.
The Delhi launch commenced with an Odissi improvisation by Ramli Ibrahim and Ankita Kumari, dancing in front of the paintings and in between the throng of guests.
The occasion was blessed by the presence of scholars & writers, Dr Alka Pande (Guest of Honour) & Smt Leela Venkataraman. Both mesmerised the audience with insightful contextualisations of the bi-lateral cultural ties between India and South East Asia, which had influenced the region since time immemorial, till now.
Both Dr Pande & Leela Ji gave different perspectives of the
‘scent’ of Indian Culture that later accorded Odissi the international status that it now enjoys.
Dr Pande gave an illustrated talk with sweeping brush strokes of the Romance of India-SE Asia socio-politico-cultural influence and ties that Kalinga (the old name of Odisha) maritime trade previously spearheaded and took central role.
Dr Pande even mentioned Bujang Valley, one of the oldest and key Hindu-Buddhist sites of SE Asia, found in ancient Kedah, Malaysia.
Leela Ji, on the otherhand, who was present at many of Sutra Odissi previous premieres over the last two decades, touched on specific aspects with regard to the evolution of Odissi especially with Ganjam, South Odisha.
She spoke of the interactive collaboration between Dr Dinanath Pathy, the late Guru Debaprasad Das and the latter’s foremost disciple, Guru Gajendra Panda that fuelled the creative works presented by Sutra, inspired by the culture-rich Ganjam.
Besides the presence of maximum number of participating artists such as M Sovan Kumar, Ramahari Jena, Birendra Pani, Bibhu Patnaik, Helen Brahma and Kishore Sahoo, they were joined by artists VV Ramani and Thejo Menon, both from Chennai.
Several distinguished VIPs such as Shamilah
Perumal (High Commission of Malaysia), Padma Bhushan artist Jatin Das, Arshiya Sethi, Guru Madhavi Mudgal, Rama Vaidyanathan, Vinayak Panda & Shama Pawar (Founder of Kishkinda Trust, Hampi) besides a host of dancers attended the launch.
Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom will have its KL final launch at One Bangsar on 25 April.
All are welcome.
Sutra