Rukmini Devi Arundale (née Shastri; 29 February 1904 – 24 February 1986)
[Sharma, Shoba and Gangadean, Ashok (January 31, 2004]
Naatya.org. Retrieved on 10 December 2018. was an Indian
theosophist, dancer and choreographer of the Indian classical dance form of
Bharatanatyam
Bharatanatyam () is a major form of Indian classical dance that originated in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the eight widely recognized Indian classical dance forms, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas, particularly of ...
, and an activist for
animal welfare.
She was the first woman in Indian history to be nominated as a member of the
Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...
, the upper house of the
Parliament of India
The Parliament of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of ...
. The most important revivalist of Bharatanatyam from its original 'sadhir' style prevalent amongst the temple dancers, the
Devadasi
In India, a devadasi was a female artist who was dedicated to the worship and service of a deity or a temple for the rest of her life. The dedication took place in a ceremony that was somewhat similar to a marriage ceremony. In addition to taki ...
s, she also worked for the re-establishment of traditional Indian arts and crafts.
She espoused the cause of
Bharata Natyam which was considered a vulgar art. She 'sanitised' and removed the inherent eroticism of Sadhir to make it palatable to Indian upper-caste elites and the British morality of the era.
Rukmini Devi features in ''
India Today
''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' launched a new on ...
''s list of '100 People Who Shaped India'. She was awarded the
Padma Bhushan in 1956,
and the
Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship
The Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, also known as Akademi Ratna Sadasyata, is an Indian honour for the performing arts presented by Sangeet Natak Academy. It is "the most prestigious and rare honour" conferred by the Academy and is "restricte ...
in 1967.
Biography
Early life and marriage
Rukmini Devi was born in a
brahmin
Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests ( purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers ( ...
family on 29 February 1904 in
Madurai
Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration i ...
of
Tamilnadu. Her father, Neelakanta Shastri, was an engineer with the
Public Works Department and a scholar, and her mother Seshammal was a music enthusiast. He had a transferable job and the family moved frequently. He was introduced to the
Theosophical Society
The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875, is a worldwide body with the aim to advance the ideas of Theosophy in continuation of previous Theosophists, especially the Greek and Alexandrian Neo-Platonic philosophers dating back to 3rd century CE ...
in 1901. Her brother,
Nilakanta Sri Ram, later became the President of the Theosophical Society. Deeply influenced by the
Theosophical Movement as a follower of Dr
Annie Besant, Neelakanta Shastri moved to Adyar, Chennai after retirement, where he built his home near the headquarters of the
Theosophical Society Adyar. It was here that young Rukmini was exposed to not just theosophical thought, but also to new ideas on culture, theatre, music, and dance. Her meeting with the prominent British theosophist Dr
George Arundale
George Sydney Arundale (1 December 1878 in Surrey, England — 12 August 1945 in Adyar, India) was a Theosophist, Freemason, president of the Theosophical Society Adyar and a bishop of the Liberal Catholic Church. He was the husband of th ...
—a close associate of Annie Besant and later the principal of the
Central Hindu College
Banaras Hindu University (BHU) IAST: kāśī hindū viśvavidyālaya International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: /kaːʃiː hɪnd̪uː ʋɪʃwəʋid̪jaːləj/), is a Collegiate university, collegiate, Central university (India), central, and Re ...
in
Varanasi
Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.
*
*
*
* The city has a syncretic t ...
—led to her building a lasting bond with him.
They married in 1920 when she turned 16 and he was 26 years her senior at 42, much to the shock of the then conservative society. After marriage, she traveled around the world, meeting fellow theosophists and also forging friendships with the educator
Maria Montessori, and the poet
James Cousins
James Henry Cousins (22 July 1873 – 20 February 1956) was an Anglo-Irish writer, playwright, actor, critic, editor, teacher and poet. He used several pseudonyms, including Mac Oisín and the Hindu name Jayaram.
Life
Cousins was born at 18, ...
.
[ In 1923, she became the President of the All-India Federation of Young Theosophists, and the President of the World Federation of Young Theosophists in 1925.
In 1928, the famous Russian ballerina ]Anna Pavlova
Anna Pavlovna Pavlova ( , rus, Анна Павловна Павлова ), born Anna Matveyevna Pavlova ( rus, Анна Матвеевна Павлова; – 23 January 1931), was a Russian prima ballerina of the late 19th and the early 20t ...
visited Bombay and the Arundale couple went to her performance, and later happened to travel on the same ship as her, to Australia where she was to perform next; over the course of the journey their friendship grew, and soon Rukmini Devi started learning dance from one of Anna's leading solo dancers, Cleo Nordi
Cleo Nordi ( rus, Клео Норди; Kronstadt, Russian Empire – 30 March 1983 London), was a Russo- Finnish ballerina who danced as a soloist with Anna Pavlova's company before becoming a renowned teacher of the Russian ballet tradi ...
. It was later, at the behest of Anna, that Rukmini Devi turned her attention to discovering traditional Indian dance forms which had fallen to disrepute, and dedicated the rest of her life to their revival.
Revivalism
In 1933, at the Annual Conference of Madras Music Academy, she saw for the first time, a performance of the dance form called the ''Sadhir''. Later she learnt the dance from Mylapore Gowri Amma and finally with the help of E Krishna Iyer from 'Pandanallur Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai'. In 1935, Rukmini Devi gave her first public performance at the 'Diamond Jubilee Convention of the Theosophical Society.
In January 1936, she along with her husband,[RUKMINI DEVI ARUNDALE]
chennaibest.com established Kalakshetra
Kalakshetra Foundation, formerly simply Kalakshetra, is an arts and cultural academy dedicated to the preservation of traditional values in Indian art and crafts, especially in the field of Bharatanatyam dance and Gandharvaveda music. Based in ...
, an academy of dance and music, built around the ancient Indian Gurukul system, at Adyar, at Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
. Today the academy is a deemed university under the Kalakshetra Foundation and is situated in its new in campus in Tiruvanmiyur, Chennai, where it shifted, in 1962. Amongst its noted students are Radha Burnier, Sarada Hoffman, Anjali Mehr, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, Sanjukta Panigrahi
Sanjukta Panigrahi (24 August 1944 – 24 June 1997) was a dancer from India, who was the foremost exponent of Indian classical dance Odissi. Sanjukta was the first Odia woman to embrace this ancient classical dance at an early age and ensure ...
, C V Chandrasekhar, Yamini Krishnamurthy
Mungara Yamini Krishnamurthy (born 20 December 1940) is an Indian dancer of Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi styles of dancing.
Early life
Yamini Krishnamurthy was born in Madanapalli, Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh. She was brought up in Chida ...
and Leela Samson.
Originally known as ''sadhir'' (), the Indian classical dance form of Bharatanatyam
Bharatanatyam () is a major form of Indian classical dance that originated in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the eight widely recognized Indian classical dance forms, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas, particularly of ...
owes its current name, to E Krishna Iyer and Rukmini Devi Arundale, who has been instrumental in modifying mainly the Pandanallur style of Bharatanatyam
Bharatanatyam () is a major form of Indian classical dance that originated in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the eight widely recognized Indian classical dance forms, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas, particularly of ...
and bringing it to the global attention, and removing the extraneous sringaar and erotic elements from the dance, which were the legacy of its Devadasi
In India, a devadasi was a female artist who was dedicated to the worship and service of a deity or a temple for the rest of her life. The dedication took place in a ceremony that was somewhat similar to a marriage ceremony. In addition to taki ...
association in the past. Soon she changed the very face of the dance, by introducing musical instruments, like violin, set and lighting design elements, and innovative costumes, and jewellery inspired by the temple sculptures.[Muthiah, S. (27 January 2003) . ''The Hindu''.] Just as for her teacher she approached noted gurus in various arts and classical dances, for her productions, Rukmini Devi approached noted scholars for inspiration and classical musicians and artists, for collaboration, the result was the creation some of pioneering dance dramas-based on Indian epics like the Valmiki's Ramayana
The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th to 4th centuries BCE, and later stages ...
and Jayadeva's Gita Govinda. Starting with famous dance dramas like, 'Sita Swayamvaram', 'Sri Rama Vanagamanam', 'Paduka Pattabhishekam' and 'Sabari Moksham', followed by 'Kutrala Kuruvanji', 'Ramayana', 'Kumara Sambhavam', 'Gita Govindam' and 'Usha Parinayam'.
Schools based on the Montessori method
The Montessori method of education involves children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom places an emphasis on hands-on learning and developing real-world skills. It emphasizes indepen ...
were first started in India, when Dr George Arundale invited Dr Maria Montessori to start courses in the 'Besant Theosophical High School' in 1939, and later also established, the 'Besant Arundale Senior Secondary School', The College of Fine Arts, The Besant Theosophical High School, The Maria Montessori School for Children, The Craft Education and Research Centre and the U V Swaminatha Iyer Library, within the Kalakshetra
Kalakshetra Foundation, formerly simply Kalakshetra, is an arts and cultural academy dedicated to the preservation of traditional values in Indian art and crafts, especially in the field of Bharatanatyam dance and Gandharvaveda music. Based in ...
campus.
Later years
Rukmini Devi was nominated as a member of the Indian Parliament's Council of States (the Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...
) in April 1952 and re-nominated in 1956. She was the first Indian woman to be nominated in Rajya Sabha. Keenly interested in animal welfare, she was associated with various humanitarian organisations, and as a member of the Rajya Sabha, was instrumental for the legislation for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act
The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted in 1960 to prevent the infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering on animals and to amend the laws relating to the prevention of cruelty to animals. T ...
and for later setting up of the Animal Welfare Board of India
The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), headquartered at Ballabhgarh in Haryana state, is a statutory advisory body advising the Government of India's Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying(Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairy ...
, under her chairmanship in 1962. She remained on the board until her demise in 1986.
She did much work to promote vegetarianism in the country. She was vice-president of International Vegetarian Union for 31 years from 1955, until her death.
In 1977, Morarji Desai offered to nominate her for the post of President of India
The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murm ...
, which she turned down. In 1978, 'Kalamkari Centre' (pencraft) was set up at Kalakshetra to revitalise the ancient Indian craft of textile printing. On encouragement from Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, she encouraged natural dyeing and weaving at Kalakshetra. She died on 24 February 1986 in Chennai.
Legacy
In January 1994, an Act of the Indian Parliament
The Parliament of India (IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of t ...
recognised the Kalakshetra Foundation as an ' Institute of National Importance'.[
Year-long celebrations, including lectures, seminars and festivals marked her 100th birth anniversary, on 29 February, in 2004 at Kalakshetra and elsewhere in many parts of the world,][ At the campus the day was marked by special function in which old students gathered from across India and the world, in a day of songs and recitals.] Also on 29 February, a photo exhibition on her life opened at the Lalit Kala Gallery in New Delhi, and on the same day, then President APJ Abdul Kalam released a photo-biography, written and compiled by Dr Sunil Kothari with a foreword by former president R Venkataraman
Ramaswamy Venkataraman (, 4 December 191027 January 2009) was an Indian lawyer, Indian independence activist and politician who served as a Union Minister and as the eighth president of India.
Venkataraman was born in Rajamadam village in T ...
.
In 2016, Google honored Rukmini Devi on her 112th birthday with a doodle, and later in the month marking the 80th year of the Kalakshetra Foundation held, 'Remembering Rukmini Devi’ festival of music and dance. Google also featured her in the 2017 Google Doodle for International Women's Day.International Women's Day 2017
Google.com (8 March 2017). Retrieved on 2018-12-10.
Awards and honours
* Padma Bhushan (1956)
* Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1957)
* Desikothama (1972), Viswa Bharati University
* 1967 Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship
The Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, also known as Akademi Ratna Sadasyata, is an Indian honour for the performing arts presented by Sangeet Natak Academy. It is "the most prestigious and rare honour" conferred by the Academy and is "restricte ...
* Prani Mitra (1968), ''Friend of All Animals'', (Animal Welfare Board of India
The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), headquartered at Ballabhgarh in Haryana state, is a statutory advisory body advising the Government of India's Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying(Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairy ...
)
* Kalidas Samman (1984), Govt of Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the second ...
* D. Lit. (Honoris Causa), Indira Kala Sangit Vishwavidyalaya, Khairagarh
Khairagarh is a city in Khairagarh-Chhuikhadan-Gandai district. Formerly, it was the part of Rajnandgaon district.
History
Khairagarh State was a feudatory state of the former Central Provinces of British India. Pandadah (8 kilometer from K ...
, Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh (, ) is a landlocked state in Central India. It is the ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the seventeenth most populous. It borders seven states – Uttar Pradesh to the north, Madhya Prad ...
* Queen Victoria Silver Medal, Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
* Addition to the roll of honour by The World Federation for the Protection of animals, The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...
* Honorary Doctorate, Wayne State University, United States
* Scrolls of Honour, County and City of Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
See also
* Bharatanatyam
Bharatanatyam () is a major form of Indian classical dance that originated in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the eight widely recognized Indian classical dance forms, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas, particularly of ...
* Indian women in dance
This list of Indian women in dance includes women from India or of Indian parentage who are notable for their involvement with modern or traditional Indian dance, as dancers or choreographers. This list is not for women whose involvement with da ...
* List of animal rights advocates
References
Further reading
* ''Art and culture in Indian life''. Kerala University Press, Trivandrum 1975
* Sarada, S.: ''Kalakshetra-Rukmini Devi, reminiscences''. Kala Mandir Trust, Madras 1985
*''India’s 50 Most Illustrious Women'' by Indra Gupta. Icon Publications, 2003. .
* ''Selections, Some selected speeches & writings of Rukmini Devi Arundale''. Kalakshetra Foundation, Chennai 2003.
* Rukmini Devi Arundale: Birth Centenary Volume, edited by Shakuntala Ramani. ''Chennai, Kalakshetra Foundation, 2003'',
* Kalakshetra Foundation (Hrsg.): ''Shraddanjali, brief pen portraits of a galaxy of great people who laid the foundations of Kalakshetra''. Kalakshetra Foundation, Chennai 2004
* Photo Biography of Rukmini Devi, Sunil Kothari. ''Chennai, The Kalakshetra Foundation, 2004''.
* Meduri, Avanthi (Hrsg.): ''Rukmini Devi Arundale (1904–1986), A Visionary Architect of Indian Culture and the Performing Arts''. Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi 2005; .
* Samson, Leela (2010). ''Rukmini Devi: A Life'', Delhi: Penguin Books, India,
External links
*
Trans-national biography of Rukmini Devi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arundale, Rukmini Devi
1904 births
1986 deaths
20th-century Indian dancers
20th-century Indian women artists
Animal welfare and rights in India
Anti-vivisectionists
Artists from Madurai
Bharatanatyam exponents
Dancers from Tamil Nadu
Indian animal welfare workers
Indian arts administrators
Indian female classical dancers
Indian Theosophists
Indian vegetarianism activists
Nominated members of the Rajya Sabha
Performers of Indian classical dance
Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in arts
Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship
Women artists from Tamil Nadu
Women members of the Rajya Sabha