Evening before he passed away, Kelu Odissi Babu taught a class

Fittingly, despite his history of illness, he had managed to stick to his unwavering routine almost till the last day. ‘‘In fact, he took classes last evening, teaching a Pallavi in Rag Kiravani,’’ his son Guru Ratikanta Mahapatra told The Indian Express over phone.

Kelu Babu won recognition for his art as much through his own performances as though his shimmering legacy of three generations of pupils. This glorious company includes the late Sanjukta Panigrahi, Sonal Mansingh, Kumkum Mohanty, Minati Misra, Madhavi Mudgal, Ileana Citaristi, Jhelum Paranjpye and the late Protima Bedi, the ‘party girl’ who famously walked into Kelu Babu’s performance in Mumbai one evening in the ’70s and discovered her life’s mission.

A particularly impressive member of this group is Kelu Babu’s own daughter-in-law Sujata Mohanty. She is based in ‘Srjan’, the dance institute he set up in 1994 in Bhubaneswar.

An intense and sincere dancer, Kelu Babu could send his audience into spiritual ecstasies invoking his ishta devta Lord Jagannath of Puri or make them chuckle in appreciation at the thorny travails of a parakiya (adulterous) nayika. He was also the auteur of what is now rated the most sensual item in the entire repertoire of Indian dance across the Big Six classical styles: ‘Kuru yadu nandana’, an ashtapadi from Jayadeva’s Gita Govinda.

Initially embarrassed by the frank sensuality of Radha’s amorous invitation to Krishna in this famous passage, Kelu Babu choreographed it three decades ago for Sonal Mansingh at the behest of her scholarly father-in-law, Dr Mayadhar Mansingh, who was enchanted by the poetry. Sonal herself recalls how she had started out as a Bharatanatyam dancer when her father-in-law took her to Kelu Babu after telling her: ‘‘You are now an Oriya bahu. Learn Odissi.’’ And thus was born one of the most outstanding guru-disciple relationships in contemporary Indian dance.

The sheer dedication of the teacher and the disciple to their craft still stands out. ‘‘I would go in a rickshaw through knee-high water to his house, which was in a flooded, low-lying area and dance for four to five hours,’’ recalls Sonal. ‘‘Then I would go to the institute for eveniing classes.’’

Kelu Babu’s fame was already spreading through India when Pupul Jayakar introduced him to the rest of the world through her festivals of India. He never looked back and a Padma Vibhushan came to him, almost by right.

Now an era has ended and many of his former pupils are flying to Orissa for his cremation, which will be held by the beach.