Meenakshi Chitharanjan, an Indian classical dancer, teacher and choreographer, is known as an exponent of the

Pandanallur style The Pandanallur style is a style of Bharatanatyam Indian dance. It is mainly attributed to Dance Guru Meenakshi sundaram Pillai (1869–1964), a dance guru who lived in the village of Pandanallur, in the Thanjavur district in the south Indian ...

of the classical dance form of

Bharatanatyam ''Bharatanatyam'' is a Indian classical dance form that came from Tamil Nadu, India. It is a classical dance form recognized by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas of Hinduism and Jainism.< ...

. She is the founder of ''Kaladiksha'', an institution promoting Bharatanatyam and striving to preserve the Pandanallur tradition. A disciple of the father-son duo of Chokkalingam Pillai and Subbaraya Pillai, she is a recipient of several honours including

Kalaimamani The Kalaimamani is the highest civilian award in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. These awards are given by the ''Tamil Nadu Iyal Isai Nataka Mandram'' (literature, music and theatre), a unit of the Directorate of Art and Culture, Government ...

Award of the Government of Tamil Nadu and the ''Natya Kala Sarathi'' of ''Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha''. The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest civilian honour of the

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

, in 2008, for her contributions to classical dance.

Biography

Meenakshi Chitharanjan was born in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

, in the south Indian state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

to P. Sabanayagam, a government official, as the youngest and only girl child among his five children. Her mother, Savithri, sent the girl to Pandanallur Chockalingam Pillai, a renowned Bharatanatyam guru, when the child was four, and after training under the Pillai and his son, Subbaraya Pillai, she staged her ''arangetram'' (debut) in 1966 at the age of nine. Soon, she moved to Delhi when her father was transferred to the Indian capital, but continued her dance studies under Subbaraya Pillai by visiting Chennai during holidays. She did her college studies at

Ethiraj College for Women Ethiraj College for Women is an arts and science college for women in Chennai, India, managed by the Ethiraj College Trust. It was founded in 1948 by the barrister V. L. Ethiraj of Vellore. History Chairmen Source: * V. L. Ethiraj (1948–60 ...

and married Arun Chitharanjan, an orthodontist and the grandson of

M. Bhaktavatsalam Minjur Bhakthavatsalam (9 October 1897 – 13 February 1987) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the chief minister of Madras State from 2 October 1963 to 6 March 1967. He was the last Congress chief minister of T ...

, the then chief minister of

, after which her dance career halted for a while. She returned to dancing after a chance meeting with Srinivasa Pillai, a percussionist who had played

mridangam The ''mridangam'' is an ancient percussion instrument originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is the primary rhythmic accompaniment in a Carnatic music ensemble. In Dhrupad, a modified version, the pakhawaj, is the primary percussion in ...

as an accompaniment to her in her younger days. She also trained ''abhinaya'' under

Kalanidhi Narayanan Kalanidhi Narayanan (7 December 1928 – 21 February 2016) was an Indian dancer and teacher of Indian classical dance form of Bharatnatyam, who was the early non-devadasi girl to learn the dance form and perform it on stage in the 1930s and 1940 ...

, a

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan (IAST: ''Padma Bhūṣaṇa'', lit. 'Lotus Decoration') is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 Januar ...

awardee, and has been performing on stage since then. Srinivasa Pillai, S. Pandian and

Padma Subrahmanyam Padma Subrahmanyam (born 4 February 1943, in Madras), is an Indian classical Bharatanatyam dancer. She is also a research scholar, choreographer, teacher, Indologist and author. She is famous in India as well as abroad; several films and documen ...

have also trained her at various points of time. In 1991, she started ''Kaladiksha'', a dance school for teaching

which has since grown to hold around 100 students at a time and is known to be striving to preserve the Pandanallur bani. She has tutored many aspiring dancers and Aishwarya R. Dhanush, the wife of

Dhanush Venkatesh Prabhu Kasthuri Raja (born 28 July 1983), known professionally as Dhanush, is an Indian actor, filmmaker, lyricist and playback singer who primarily works in Tamil cinema. Having starred in Dhanush filmography, 50 films over his car ...

, the eldest daughter of

Rajnikanth Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 170 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, ...

and a

awardee, is one of her disciples. She received the title ''Natya Choodamani'' of Sri Krishna Gana Sabha and,

Award of the Government of Tamil Nadu in 1975. The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest civilian honour of the

in 2008 and ''Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha'' honoured her with the title of ''Natya Kala Sarathi'' in 2014. She is also a recipient of Awards of Excellence from Rotary Club, Chenna and Probus Club, Chennai, and Best Dancer Award (2004) from

Madras Music Academy Madras Music Academy is one of the earliest established music academies in South India. Before the concept of infrastructure was introduced to India in the early 1920s, it was a gathering for elite musicians simply called (and is still more ...

. She holds the highest artist grade at the

Doordarshan Doordarshan (), abbreviated as DD, is India's State-owned enterprise, state-owned public broadcasting, public television broadcaster. Established by the Government of India on 15 September 1959, it is owned by the Ministry of Information and B ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chitharanjan, Meenakshi Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Recipients of the Kalaimamani Award Year of birth missing (living people) Artists from Chennai Indian women choreographers Indian classical choreographers Indian female classical dancers Bharatanatyam exponents Living people Dancers from Tamil Nadu 20th-century Indian dancers 20th-century Indian women artists Women artists from Tamil Nadu Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award

Biography

See also

References

External links