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Rukmini Devi Arundale
(29 Feb 1904 – 24 Feb 1986)
T
he story of Rukmini Devi
and Kalakshetra is now part
of the cultural history of
contemporary India. Her life was part
fairytale, part heroic saga, a life lived by
lofty ideals and unshaken conviction.
She played a large role in the revival
of Bharatanatyam, redefined its stage
and costume aesthetics as well as its
grammar and spiritual underpinnings.
A brilliant choreographer and
designer, she created the genre of
dance-drama, collected around her
some of the finest artists and teachers
from a variety of disciplines, to teach
and practise at Kalakshetra. She
did a magnificent job of preserving
traditional arts and crafts, making the
Kalakshetra weaving department a
centre of excellence. She was a strong
and vocal advocate of vegetarianism
and compassion to animals. She
became an effective, often inspiring
speaker on all the subjects dear to
her. Above all, she was an institution
builder par excellence. And like many
others of her high standards as a
teacher, mentor, head of institution,
she perhaps failed to put in place a
proper succession plan. In her own
words, “Often people exclaim and
say: ‘What will happen after you!’ My
answer is twofold; firstly, one must do
the best one can while one is alive and
even that is worthwhile. Secondly, we
must not stop working just because
we may not find the kind of successors
we expect. I feel sure that there will
be some who will carry on the work
and that, if our destiny is good, there
will be some one or more outstanding
personalities to take over, who will
make their own contribution.”
Rukmini Devi’s faith in a benign
destiny seemed misplaced for a while
and there were anxious moments
about the future of the institution
when she died in 1986. The roles
played by several individuals like the
much loved Sankara Menon, former
president of India R. Venkataraman
and others in the smooth transition
to Kalakshetra’s continued state of
stability are well known to people
familiar with the history of the
Foundation. True there have been
moments of uncertainty and some steps
perhaps taken in the wrong direction,
but few can complain of any great
loss of identity or decline of standards
over the decades after Rukmini Devi,
especially when we consider the
serious depredations globalisation has
made into institutions and traditions
all around.
This profile of Rukmini Devi Arundale,
written by Gowri Ramnarayan as a
three-part serial in the first year of
Sruti’s publication, takes the reader
through her journey of discovery
and excellence, while also providing
insights into her holistic philosophy
of art truly rooted in nature, and her
compassion for all things living.
EDITOR
“The first time I saw her was when she invited me to India. The second time I saw her was when she gladdened
the eyes of the children of my school in Europe by the beautiful presence of her Indian womanhood. I saw her
again a third time from an aeroplane on the sacred land of India and her hands were covered with garlands
of roses and jasmine, and then I lived next to her. I have seen her in all the beauty of her unsurpassing Art of
Kalakshetra which she cares for with the generous goodness of her exceptional spirit. Today the occasion of her
birthday, which, however, comes only every four years, I have felt the miracle of being here in her domain and of
seeing her in glory among her pupils and have wished her with all my heart, all the good that can be obtained
in this world and the triumph of her ideals.”
Dr. MARIA MONTESSORI
1 z SRUTI
T
he imperious voice rings out a
refusal. " N o . I cannot spare the
time to give interviews. T h e r e is so
much important work to be d o n e
and h e r e come all these people
pestering and pressurizing me."
Another voice implores: "This is a
very special occasion. You have
just turned eighty and it's a
landmark...." At this, Kukmini Devi,
who has been walking away to get
into her car turns around. All
traces of annoyance have vanished.
With a broad smile she asks: "Is
t u r n i n g eighty such an
achievement? All men and women
grow old. Some live longer than
others. Completing eighty is not a
sacred landmark in my life! I don't
even feel old! My work is by n o
means complete. I am looking
forward to achieving more and
more worthwhile goals in the
future."
She is old, no doubt. H e r freshly
washed silver hair proclaims her
years, as d o the wrinkles and
pouches u n d e r the eyes. She had
been leaning on a colleague's
shoulders d u r i n g the short walk to
the car. Yet, when she talks of the
future and the work to be done, she
seems to shed all traces of the
passage of years. T h e r e is a glow in
her eyes, a youthfulness in her
voice and a zest and power of
eloquence in her speech.
Assuredly, unpredictability is the
main streak in Kukmini Devi's
nature. She eludes e n t r a p m e n t by
eulogy. She refuses to permit the
ossification that sets in with
excessive adulation which would
'monumentalize' her and cut her off
from the mainstream of life.
It is often said that personalities
make destiny. T h i s truism is
applicable with special force in
Rukmini Devi's case. It is surely
her own dynamic nature, with its
multifaceted interest in the varied
aspects of life and art, that has
made her a unique "cult figure'.
And today, at the mellow, age of
four-score plus one, she still
remains an extraordinary source of
kinetic energy, a trend-setter, a
revolutionary who battles with all
the power at her command to
preserve the purity of tradition and
keep the insidious encroachment of
ugliness in both life and art at bay.
Rukmini Devi's missionary zeal has
been channelized into many and
varied streams of activity. T h e y
have borne fruits in several spheres
and not only in the aesthetic realm
which has received the greatest
attention. But she herself draws no
dividing lines between the various
activities to which she has paid
attention. Hers is a holistic
approach towards life which does
not look upon animal welfare and
Bharatanatyam as separate,
watertight compartments. H e r
involvement with education is not
segregated from her interest in the
handicrafts. Working for the
vegetarian cause is as important as
giving lectures on theosophy. A
heuristic sensibility makes her
various activities an authentic
contribution of the individual
towards changing the course and
direction of the world. With this
approach, she has brought to the
world of art, which is a world of
illusion and make-believe, the
thrust and force of real life.
She feels strongly on the
importance oi art and articulates
her views with passion.
"People say that art makes you
grow. But anything that inspires
you makes you grow. Learning and
practising any of the arts will add
to your poise and make you more
graceful, expressive and articulate.
But the personality doesn't grow by
the attention given to a subject. It
grows by an inner understanding.
Artists and art lovers are
sometimes very cruel. So don't
think that a mere learning of music
or dance will make a person more
compassionate.
"But the arts have a much more
important role to play in h u m a n
life and human endeavour than the
development of individuals. In an
invisible overall way, art fosters the
spiritual growth of humanity.
When you partake of an art,
somewhere, somehow, p e r h a p s like
a hairline, t h e r e is a development
of your own nature, your higher
self. T h e change is so subtle that
you cannot easily define it. It is a
gradual but sure change of
civilization itself."
Ultimately what genuine art strives
to communicate is the sense of
beauty and a joy in that beauty.
When highly created art evolves,
she says, "its beauty is such that it
will gradually penetrate into your
nature." T h i s may not be an
instantaneous transfiguration and
perhaps not occur in one lifetime.
T h e human collective unconscious
is enriched by it for "it will surely
penetrate into the n a t u r e of o u r
civilization." T h e poet Shelley had
observed that imagination is a
great moral force o p e r a n t in the
arts, which impels man towards
goodness because it unfolds vistas
of hitherto unperceived beauty.
Art contributes to the effect by
acting upon the imagination, he e
said. Kukmini Devi avers that it is
not so much the power of
imagination as the power of art to
make man more sensitive that
develops the h u m a n qualities of
compassion and fellow feeling. She
elaborates:
"Artists have a d e e p emotioncharged sensitivity. T h e y are
sensitive to everything, to beauty,
to sorrow, to cruelty. So they
cannot stand ugliness in life and
cruelty is an ugliness in life. With
their natural instincts tuned to this
fine, sensitive pitch, they get a
better mental u n d e r s t a n d i n g of life.
But since the change wrought by
artists is neither preceded by a
sudden upheaval nor followed by a
total change, you may think that
there is no change. But the change
is taking place all the time and
artists are helping civilisation to
change. I think art is essential for
h u m a n development because it
contributes, immeasurably yet
imperceptibly, like a d r o p in the
ocean, to the evolution of noble
and good character in people."
These words gain meaning and
validity in the light of the speaker's
own life.
Rukmini Devi was born on 29
February 1904 — a leap year — in
Madurai d u r i n g the auspicious
time of the Mahamagam festival.
H e r father was Nilakantha Sastri
who hailed from Tiruvisanalluron-the Kaveri. Sastri and his wife
had eight children. T h e eldest was
Sri Ram; then came Subbulakshmi,
Sivakamu, Padmanabhan,
Yagneswaran, Rukmini Devi,
Visalakshi and Subramaniam.
Sastri belonged to an orthodox
Brahmin family of Sanskrit
scholars. H e added Western
education to his knowledge of the
language of the Gods' and worked
as a civil engineer in the Public
Works Department of the
Government. T h i s job entailed
relocation every two years and thus
the family kept moving from place
to place in South India. Sivakamu,
R u k m i n i Devi's elder sister,
explains that the father was a great
student of Vedanta who wrote
commentaries on some of the
Upanishads. "My mother," she
adds, "was very musical a n d came
from an equally conservative
family of T i r u v a i y a r u but steeped
in music. H e r uncle could sing well
and play the violin. Two of my
uncles, Ramachandra Iyer and
Krishnaswamy Iyer could also sing
well though they didn't have
formal training. My mother had
inherited the talent, for I
r e m e m b e r her singing in a sweet
voice d u r i n g the daily puja. She
knew the ragas well; she would
identify them easily right upto the
time of her death at the age of 104.
She could sing highlighting the
essential features of a raga and
demonstrate how it should go."
Visalakshi, the younger sister,
adds that their mother Seshammal
was very artistic by temperament
Sealed fl lo r): Sri Ram. Mother Seshammal. Subbulakshmi. Padmanabhan
Standing (I to r). Visalakshi. Subramaniam. Sivakamu. Yagneswaran & Rukmini
and that she used to enjoy watching
the rehearsals as well as the actual
performances of R u k m i n i Devi and
h e r disciples. "She loved the music
in the dance dramas of
Kalakshetra. She had excellent
musical taste. She herself did not
become a singer, probably due to
family commitments. You see, ours
was a large family of eight children
with grandparents, and visitors
were constantly coming and going.
My mother managed this oldfashioned household and she did it
very smoothly."
T h e period of R u k m i n i Devi's
birth and girlhood was one of
ferment affecting the" history of
India. T h e nation was shaking off
the stupor of foreign domination.
An e m e r g i n g consciousness of the
Indian cultural heritage was
awakening the desire to revive the
glory of the past. Riding the crest
19
of the renaissance was the
Theosophical Movement which
emphasized that there was no
religion higher than the truth —
satvarn nasti parodharmah — and
that this universal truth could be
realised by every person
irrespective of caste, creed, colour
or race. T h e emphasis was on the
universal brotherhood of man and
a higher spiritual quest, sometimes
through occult methods, all of
which focalized on the great wisdom
ot India's past. T h e theosophical
approach appealed to the Sanskrit
scholar and the liberal thinker in
Nilakantha Sastri. for it seemed to
him to contain the quintessence or
Vedanta in its spiritual search for
the Brahman. H e joined the
movement.
Society's-compound freely, attend
lectures, meet the Theosophists
and so on."
Sivakamu recalls: "Mv father was
initiated into the Theosophical
Society by Colonel Olcott, its
Founder-President. H e heard the
lectures of the Theosophists and
was impressed by their books. H e
was very appreciative of
Dr. Besant's work, personality and
talent. When he retired, he
naturallv wanted to settle down
near the Society. Building a
house within the Society's
compound would have made it the
Society's property and therefore he
bought land nearby and built our
house at No.l, Guindy Road — the
onlv house in that area at that time.
T h e Theosophical Society with its
beautiful grounds was the only
inhabited area at Adyar and the
rest was wooded wilderness. We
used to go in and out of the
In the circumstances, all the
children were deeply influenced by
Theosophy from childhood. Sri
Ram later became the President of
the organisation and Rukmini Devi
herself became and is still the chief
of the International Theosophical
Centre at Naarden in the
Netherlands. Mother Seshammal,
who continued to wear the nineyard saree in the traditional
m a n n e r of tnadisar, nevertheless
adapted herself to the new current
without sacrificing the essential
values of the old ways.
Before moving to Madras, the
family stayed for a year at
Pudukottai where Nilakantha Sastri
designed and built a palace for
King M a r t h a n d a . It was here, for
the first time, Rukmini Devi was
exposed, although only indirectly,
to Bharatanatyam or Sadir, as it
was called then. Until then, she
tells us, she had had acquaintance
with music alone, studying it as she
was with her sister Visalakshi.
"As a child I had no exposure to
any other art except music. I was
brought up on music and, being
near Tiruvaiyaru for some time
d u r i n g childhood, I got many
opportunities to listen to great
music. T h e r e was even a family
legendthat Tyagaraja Swami used
to visit my maternal grandfather's
home.
"I wanted to be a musician and that
was my one desire from childhood.
I learnt from some very great
musicians. And when I got
married, I started travelling a lot
and went to many foreign countries
as well. Wherever I went, I became
interested in the art of the place. I
heard the greatest musicians of the
West and learnt to appreciate
Western classical music. I was
fascinated by drama too. But jazz,
which had become very popular by
then, and ballroom dancing did not
appeal to me, although I tried to
like them because everyone else
did. In North India. 1 learnt music
— sarangi and dilruba — from
Nasiruddin Khan."
A in nnil Lover
For a long time she showed interest
in all the art forms that she came
into contact with, learnt to
appreciate them discriminatingly,
and even tried to learn some forms
motivated by the sheer joy of
p a r t a k i n g in an art experience.
Still, she never even imagined that
her unique contribution to the
world of culture would be through
Bharatanatyam.
" D u r i n g childhood, my only
glimpses of Bharatanatyam were at
Pudukottai where my father, as an
officer serving the Maharaja, took
responsibility for arranging the
Navaratri festival. In those days,
dance was very much a part of
temple festivals and I saw a dancer
among those in the temple
procession for a fleeting moment.
This made no impression upon me
at that time. At Pudukottai I
actually lived amidst dancers and
musicians. In the two houses
opposite ours lived famous
dancers, while a nattuvanar lived
in a house behind our own. I could
hear the sounds of music and the
staccato beats of the tattukazhi, or
the conductor's baton, very often.
But I was curious only a little."
In those days Sadir had a ghetto
existence, imprisoned behind the
iron curtain of taboos, confined to
a certain section of society that was
socially not highly respected and
this section looked u p o n dancing as
its preserve. Another section
composed of males felt it was its
special privilege to appreciate its
intricacies. No wonder that little
Rukmini did not feel impelled to
peep into the hidden mysteries.
T h e aversion or revulsion those
a r o u n d her exhibited towards Sadir
perhaps affected her too. At any
rate the initial curiosity died. She
was learning music — her guru had
taught Coimbatore Thayi among
others — and it absorbed her. "I
really didn't think that there was
anything in dance," she recalls. "It
never occurred to me to try to see
the dancers or their art."
Rukmini Devi not only studied but
also attentively listened to music as
she had done from the age of two.
She had heard her own grandfather
sing, and had been taught some
songs by her mother. T h e father
recognised and nurtured her
musical talent, although he wanted
his Rukmini to become a Sanskrit
scholar as well as musician. So he
arranged for her tp study music
u n d e r Mahavaidyfenatha Iyer and
his son Sabesa Iyer, who were
foremost among the musicians of
the day. However Rukmini's brief
period of learning came to an end
when Nilakantha Sastri fell ill and
passed away, necessitating a change
of plans in the family. We can only
guess what the father's reaction
would have been if he had been
alive to see his daughter become a
luminary in the dance world. H e
had actually signed a pledge never
to see or encourage dance in
anyway. But he once asked his
daughter why she took such an
interest in Western dance and not
in Bharatanatyam which was
"according to the Sastras, an art".
H e might have been delighted to
see Rukniini as a dancer and as the
head of a great cultural institution
where music and Sanskrit
llourished and found expression in
a dance form with a tilt different
from the typical Sadir of his days.
T h e reaction of the mother, a
strictly-reared Brahmin lady, was
unusual. Seshammal's concept of
traditional values were unfettered
by prejudice. She accepted all
ancient art forms and the
incidental excrescences of decadent
elements did not frighten her. She
was confident that her d a u g h t e r
would find a way to discover and
taste the inner kernel of the
forbidden fruit. Visalakshi speaks
for the entire family:
"We knew that dancing meant
coming into contact with people
considered immoral. No one in our
family considered this as a serious
issue. We looked at Bharatanatyam
as an aesthetic art form. We were
convinced that it was intrinsically
beautiful, even if it might have
been used or misused in a corrupt
way. And we knew of Balasaraswati
who was doing wonderful work in
this field."
Connoisseurs, scholars and many
of the dancers of the y o u n g e r
generation speak of Rukmini Devi
as the one who revolutionized
Bharatanatyam and brought a newvalue and a new attitude to it, the
new value actually being a revival
of the old traditional value, which
is realized by stripping the moss
and p r u n i n g the weeds obscuring
the ancient art form. In India, a r r i s
looked upon as a pathway to reach
' God. If not actually moksa sad ha mi,
it is brahmasvada sahodara (akin to
the experiencing of ultimate bliss).
Singing and dancing are seen as
partaking of the activities of Gods .
and Goddesses, for the Puranic
lore depicts those as performers
and connoisseurs of art. T h e
Upanishads describe God as Kavih
Krishna dances with the Gopis a n d
on Kalinga and his Bute binds the
world in its magic spell. Even the
elephant-headed, pot-bellied
Ganapati dances in glee. Saraswati
is a Veenadharini described as
Sarigatnapadaniratam. Nataraja is
seen as the Supreme Dancer who,
dancing out of pure joy, reveals the
secret of the cosmic energy
controlling and sustaining the
universe. T h e image of the usually
matted locks of Siva falling freely
r o u n d his head as h e dances
illustrates the essential principle of
art, namely the balancing and
blending of dynamic motion and
stasis. It also illustrates how art can
capture the stillness in the midst of
life's turbulence, how man can
realize a tranquil bliss inhering at
the central point of tension and
action. Hence saints and poets
extol the Gods through songs and
dances. T h e predominant emotion
of these arts is rati, the basic
attraction which transforms into
sringara, the experience of love in.
aesthetic rapture. T h e apparently
p o r n o g r a p h i c flamboyance of
sculpture in temples is never meant
to be secular. Furthermore, the
ancient H i n d u s who created these
architectural marvels were
untainted by prudery, prurience o r
puritanism. Love and sex being
important experiences of life, they
saw the former as a pre-taste of
the ultimate bliss, a metaphor and
a pathway to-that ultimate Reality.
Sex they viewed as the creative
principle inherent in man which
could b e worshipped as the divine
cosmic energy of creativity. T h e
themes found myriad forms of
expression through theology,
mytho/ogy. philosophy and the
different forms of art.
T h e dance in a sense is the
combination of all the fine arts. It
is colourful and picturesque; it has
m o r e dimensions than painting. It
has motion and space, with sound
and sense (music and poetry) as its
valued adjuncts. Paradoxically, it
uses the physical and the sensual
m e d i u m of the body to express the
spiritual and the sublime. Kukmini
Devi puts it thus: " T h e dance can
contribute both to the positive and
the negative, to the beautiful and
the ugly side of human beings. It isan expression by the physical body
Because it is a physical expression.
it is both a dangerous and a
magnificent instrument. T h e
weakness of the physical body is its
coarseness and vulgarity. For those
who in their minds and emotions
are unable to transcend the
physical, the dance can become an
instrument of sensuality and
coarseness."
When Rukmini Devi came into the
field, the physical dimension it was
that came through mainlv. Veena
vidwan K.P. Sivanandam, a
descendent of the famous foursome
— the T a n j a v u r quartet — who
enriched the art of dancing by their
inimitable compositions, believes
that the art of dancing was
unadulterated, untainted and
elevating as long as it remained
part of temple rituals and festivals.
In parallel to its jx?rlormance in
the temples, Sadir came to be
offered — without blemish — as an
aesthetic experience for the
connoisseurs in the courts of, the
kings and zamindars who
patronised musicians and dancers.
T h e deterioration set in when
dances began to be organized in the
houses of the rich as entertainment
d u r i n g the weddings and other
family festivities. T h e situation got
worse as secularization gained over
the years and it degenerated to
such an extent that, at the
beginning of the century, the
public came to consider dancing as
a vulgar occupation for the
performer and the spectator alike
and a campaign was launched for a
law against the system of the
devadasis dedicating themselves to
the temple a n d dancing within its
precincts.
And then again, the Victorian
outlook fostered by Western
education made the 'educated' and
'cultured' man of the times to
condemn eroticism as obscene. In
some cases, they were perhaps
justified. According to
Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, the
dances were sensual orgies' and
'displays of lust' which turned him
awav from the art whose beauty he
perceived only much later, when
stripped of the excrescences. And
Sankara Menon, Vice-President of
Kalakshetra and a close associate of
Rukmini Devi, has this to say:
'When Rukmini Devi took to this
dance, there were a large n u m b e r
of devadasis who were brilliant
dancers, like Jeevaratnam and
Varalakshmi. T h e y were wonderful
dancers from the point of view of
the technical aspects of dance, such
is adavu-s and jati-s. But thev danced
without understanding what they
were doing. They were dancing to
a set of rules given to them, which
were flogged into them through
severe training. You cannot say
that Rukmini Devi had no
examples because she had all these
people that she had seen a n d
herself marvelled at. We were all
struck by the glory of the dancing.
But we also thought they were
dancing to very trivial things
without any meaning or just a
vague sringara rasa. A n d the
sringara that they tried to portray
was a very ordinary, low sringara.
But there was nothing wrong with
the vigorously maintained
discipline."
Those were the days when even
singing was taboo for women who
were not devadasis. T h e women
knew songs, they listened to a good
deal of music at the temples, and if
they belonged to a familv of (male)
musicians, they learnt everything
before the disciples did. But to
display their learning was
unthinkable. It remained well
hidden except for the occasional
crooning and h u m m i n g within the
four walls of the home, even then
the anterior portion of it. T h e fourday wedding celebrations had
ceremonies such as oonjal, nalangu
and sobhanam at which, in the
houses of the orthodox, songs were
sung by devadasis retained to
perform dances in the evening.
Sometimes, folksy items such as
kummi (clap-dance) kolattam (stickdance) and sobfuxnam
were performed by them. And at
the e v e n i n g s dance recital the
bigwigs of the area would be
greeted bv the devadasis with
flowers, betel leaves and other
paraphernalia, and sometimes with
the application of sandal paste to
their forehead neck and hands.
T h e n the dance would commence
a n d as and when the devadasi
pleased the onlookers with her
performance, she would be offered
gifts a n d money. Violation of
tradition in such an ambience
prostituted the art. But even then
there were dancers who lived with
dignity and honour. Some lived
with a man to whom they remained
so true as to consider themselves
widowed at his demise.
In a televised interview, Rukmini
Devi has given her own analysis.
According to her, much of the
glory of the past has departed from
Bharatanatyam and at the present
time, the art is going t h r o u g h a
rather superficial phase
emphasizing glamour and the cult
of the personality. T o recapture the
spiritual and impersonal h a r m o n y
of the art, commitment and
sincerity are required. And that
necessitates the total extinction of
the self-centred ego.
Answering the oft-made charge
against her that she has eschewed
sringara. Rukmini Devi claimed
that such statements were examples
of j u m p i n g to u n w a r r a n t e d
conclusions, for if she had really
spoken opposing sringara, then she
herself must have set a very bad
example by presenting varnam-s
and pada-s in the "controversial"
rasa. Later on she explains her
position to us again.
"I have done abhinaya for a few
kriti-s of Tyagaraja, Dikshitar and
Papanasam Sivan, because they
were soaked in the bhakti rasa,
which I consider very important.
But sringara is important too.
Perhaps my interpretation of
sringara was different from the way
in which most people conceived of
it. Sringara is not sensuality. It also
means a love of a great kind, such
as the love of Radha for Krishna as
depicted in Gita Govmdam which I
have produced. Why would I do
that if I thought it vulgar and
wrong? It is nothing buLsringara
from beginning to end. In fact,
devotion itself is love in a higher
form. Even sex is not coarse in its
light place. Children are born of
sexual relationship, but it is not
only sex but love that creates a
child. So if it has been said that I
am against sringara, I can only say
that the inference is wrong. But
t h e r e are certain types of pada-s
that I have objected to. From one
vidwan I learnt the old padam
tamarasaksha
(Yadhukulakhamboji).
with a lot of sanchari bhava-s of the
languishing navika separated from
her lover. She describes not only
her love but the whole process of
physical contact and in gestures at
that! T o depict such things is
unthinkable for me. A famous
man gave m e a book on sanchari
bhava. When I read it I just
felt sick. Mind you. I don't say
that the ladies who danced such
things were vulgar. They were
taught that way and were probably
ignorant of some of the meanings. I
too did not know the meaning of
some of the things I had been
taught. But my guru Meenakshisundaram Pillai used to make m e
eliminate the lewd element, saving:
This is not for you. You should no I do
it. Mere was a nattuvanar censoring
parts of songs as unsuitable and
these were things that he was
accustomed to all his life! T h e r e is
another reason for my thinking this
way. A devadasi is inured to
certain things from childhood. She
has seen her mother and her
g r a n d m o t h e r dance to certain
things. So, even if a mudra is
Sankara Mcnon & Rukmini
vulgar in meaning she may not be
conscious of it. But I was not
hi o u g h t u p that way or in
circumstances where vulgarity was
accepted with a matter-of-factness.
And therefore, for me, certain
things remain unacceptable and I
keep them out ol ray life."
While she has felt this way and
acted accordingly, Rukmini Devi
has never denied the excellence of
some of the practitioners ol the ait.
She always had a great respect and
admiration for Balasaraswati's
dancing. Rukmini Devi avers thai
Balasaraswati's art was beautilul
and untainted by vulgarity. She
smilingly discloses that Bala had
once told her that the ostensibly
'good class' of girls who had taken
up Bharatanatyam were themselves
cheapening the art through
tasteless presentations. Bala had
described this phenomenon as the
new kind of vulgarity.
" T h e r e was some truth in it," says
Rukmini Devi. "Many of the
younger dancers, themselves
highly critical of some of the old
trends, are doing things which are
much worse. I don't like their
gaudy glitter and artificial
abhinaya. T h e irony is that many
ol them are very well behaved and
cultured women off the stage.
You'd never believe they are the
same girls when you see them
perform."
She also paid a handsome tribute to
nattuvanars and devadasis in
writing about Bharatanatyam in
the Sunday edition olAmrita
Patrika (1954):
Devi
Bazar
" T h e ' s a d i r was performed by
devadasis in temples, palaces and
the houses of the people in general
on all auspicious occasions....
T h o u g h in latter days the 'sadir'
unfortunately developed sensual
characteristics which almost
brought about the extinction of the
art, it must also be remembered
that the devadasis kept u p both the
technique and the spirit of the
dance tradition. T h e y were
dedicated to the temples and this
was no mere formality but a real
dedication for, when they danced
d u r i n g the temple festivals or
rituals, they were examples of pure
devotion. T h e joy of dancing and
offering their art at the altar of the
Supreme was great and had no
ulterior motive.
"This was why SO manv
outstanding artistes were born
among the devadasi class of people.
T h e corruption that nearly killed
the art was not theirs alone but
that of the society in general for
which society must bear the
responsibility....
"It needed new life, it needed to be
put through the fire so that the
gold obscured by dross may once
m o r e shine. Whether the brilliance
and purity of the gold is too good
for our present society is a question
that demands an answer. T h e
decadence in character that almost
destroyed the art once has taken
another shape and may once again
attempt destruction. Hence, the
23
^?
need to understand, to know, to
educate and be educated into the
real spirit of India."
It may be asserted that Rukmini
Devi's earnest mission in life has
been this desire to understand, to
know, to educate and to be educated
into the real spirit of India.
In p u r s u i n g this mission, Rukmini
Devi was fortunate in having an
atmosphere at her parents' home
which was supportive of
unshackled development of the
m i n d a n d the s p i r i t T h e family
was rooted in tradition and steeped
in culture, but was not orthodox or
rigidly conventional. T h e father
had sympathy for the downtrodden
and a sense of fairplay. Over the
years he embraced progressive
ideas. T h u s , he joined a league
formed of parents who vowed not
to marry their daughters young.
T h i s was after his eldest d a u g h t e r
Sivakamu had already been
m a r r i e d as a child. T h i s t u r n e d out
to be a mistake, for when
Nilakantha Sastri had settled down
at Madras close to the head and
heart of the Theosophical Movement, d a u g h t e r Sivakamu decided
to leave h e r husband and return to
her parents' h o m e so that she could
continue h e r education and take u p
medicine as a career. T o welcome a
d a u g h t e r who repudiated her
marriage in o r d e r to p u r s u e a
career was going radically against
the norms of society but welcome
her Sastri did. H e supported
Sivakamu's decision saying she had
every right to continue her studies
if she wished to do so. She could
choose her own life, to continue
her marriage or not, he said. " H e
wouldn't be bullied or coerced into
changing his mind by the shocked
reaction of our relatives,
Sivakamu's in-laws or society in
general," says Visalakshi, a d d i n g :
"Sivakamu had suffered but
Rukmini and I were saved the
horrors of child marriage."
■14
In the event. C.W. Leadbeater, an
eminent theosophist, took a liking
to Sivakamu and he encouraged
h e r to go to Benares for her
schooling u n d e r the guidance of
Miss Francesca Arundale. So
Sivakamu completed her studies
a n d enrolled herself in the
J.J. School of Medicine at Bombay,
passing out with an outstanding
academic record. Later she went to
Ireland, England and Austria and
studied obstetrics and gynaecology
(MRCP).
Sivakamu's contact with Rukmini
Devi was only d u r i n g the holidays.
But they shared a common interest
despite the difference of eight years
in age and that was a love of
animals and birds. According to
sister Visalakshi, it was Sivakamu
more than Rukmini who was all the
time befriending stray dogs and
cats and bringing little wounded
creatures home for treatment and
care. Perhaps the elder sister's
compassionate interest played a
part in influencing the younger
sister's nature. But Rukmini Devi
did not stop with showing love
towards those few creatures she
personally came into contact with.
Over the years she has d o n e
admirable work for animal welfare
a n d has worked towards m a k i n g
people realize that the preservation
of wild life is as necessary from a
practical point of view as it is for
the cultivation of humanitarian
qualities in men. She has been a
patron, representative and member
of several organisations promoting
animal welfare and vegetarianism.
Passionately committed that she is
to these goals, she is horrified by
the torture and exploitation of
animals in the name of entertainment or science. She tells us how
she was affected when she saw
elephants in a circus ring:
" T h e y were made to perform the
usual feat of standing on their
heads or with all their feet on a
small stool. T h e youngest one was
unable to follow the directions but
the man used his prod.... T h e baby
elephant squealed and finally
succeeded after which they all
joyfully ran back to their prisons. I
wept silent tears when I saw this....
"I had an equally miserable time
when...a film was shown of a
pharmaceutical institute showing
how some experiments were
performed in these places. A
little mouse was taken and put into
a tube so that injections of diseases
or their cures could be given from
behind. I heard its cries. Young
beagles — c h a r m i n g y o u n g dogs —
bred at the institute were kept in
cages. Each one was picked up...for
experiments such as forced
cigarette smoking, etc. T h e
friendly creatures, unaware of their
fate, wagged their tails and licked
the very hands that were going to
torture them. Also I heard the cries
of beautiful cats a n d other
creatures. Such things can h a p p e n
nowhere else but on earth which
man makes so hideous."
She has protested against vivisection and whipping too but not
due to a blind belief. H e r
campaign against non-vegetarianism
is not the squeamish aversion of the
gently n u r t u r e d B r a h m i n lady to
'unclean' food. T h e y are part of her
Weltanschauung that wants to
eradicate evil and cruelty m a r r i n g
the beauty of life. She herself has
said:
"...not only is there most heartr e n d i n g cruelty everywhere, but
t h e r e is so m u c h indifference and
ignorance. We, who work for
culture cannot ignore this aspect of
culture, for culture is neither
performance nor entertainment,
but life. Art is an expression of life.
I cannot imagine culture and
cruelty going together. In fact, I
wish every artist would give some
time to this aspect of culture. I
know many people think we must
h e l p h u m a n beings first and then
only animals. T h e y d o n ' t realize
that love and compassion to animals
makes us better h u m a n beings."
K. Chandrasekharan is a close
friend and associate of R u k m i n i
Devi. H e recalls to us a revealing
incident. Once when he and a few
others were talking to her at
Kalaksbetra, she suddenly b o u n d e d
out into the garden. Looking for
the cause of her flurry, they found
a stalking cat about to pounce upon
a squirrel. In saving the squirrel
from the cat's paws, Rukmini Devi
broke her toe! Laughingly K.C.
adds:
"Whenever you visit her, you will
see some dogs or cats around,
coming and going freely. She will
never speak to these creatures
harshly. If work needed her
u n d i v i d e d attention, she would
gently push them away or ask
someone to take them out. She is
truly a prani mitra. " T h e reference
is to an award given to her. " H e r
love for the animals makes one
think of the Advaita concept. If the
same spirit — atman — pervades
all with its omnipresence, then
animals are also part of the divine
life-force. So when we differentiate
between h u m a n beings and animals
without realising our kinship to
these creatures, we live in
ignorance. What moves Rukmini
Devi to serve animals is not pity,
but love."
studied at Triplicane H i g h School
in Madras where we learnt English
in which we became fluent du e to
o u r close association with the
Theosophists. But otherwise, at
home, we spoke only Tamil- At
Pudukottai, our studies had been
disrupted and so at Madras both
Rukmini and I had to join in lower
classes. She was very good at music
and drawing. She participated in
extra-mural activities, especially in
acting out plays and skits."
Sivakamu remembers Rukmini's
imitative skill. Apparently she had
a naughty streak that added
sauciness to her mimicry which was
so good that it kept people in splits
of laughter. T h i s capacity of mimic
sounds, speech and dance did not
make anyone think of teaching her
to dance because, dancing was after
Doctor Sivakamu also has d o n e
wonderful work to alleviate the
sufferings of men and animals,
especially at Bikaner where she was
the head of a hospital and an
orphanage. In fact she received the
Kaiser-i-Hind medal for this
work. She says that her sister
Rukmini was a large-hearted
person from childhood. "She
couldn't see suffering in an animal
or a human. She was not just fond
of animals in a passive way; she
wanted very much to do some
thing for them." Equally, she has
been kind and helpful to people,
though this has been masked by
her strictness and plain-speaking.
"Rukmini has upset people very
often by her way of talking which is
not always considerate," observes
Sivakamu, "But in h e r heart she is
very sympathetic."
Rukmini Devi and her brothers
and sisters had an easy,
companionable childhood. As
Sivakamu recalls, "We children did
not have many household chores to
do but had plenty of freedom and
time to grow, to play and to
dream." And Visalakshi adds: "But
at no time did I imagine she would
become so famous and in the field
of dancing at that! Rukmini,
however, was always very dreamy
and imaginative. She was forever
making up stories to regale me
with.... T h e general education that
we received was very good. We
Rukmini Devi & Dr. Arundale
all a vocation of the devadasis only.
However, music lessons from 'an
old man with a violin' did continue
for the y o u n g e r girls.
Visalakshi continues: "My father
fell ill and passed away in 1919.
Rukmini was sixteen and 1 was
thirteen at that time. Rukmini was
a school girl still and although she
was interested in and good a t .
studies, she gave u p her studies
because she got married a year
after father's death. T h e r e was one
activity in which both of us were
rather hopeless and that was
needlework. My father always
discouraged us from doing
e m b r o i d e r y saying that it was bad
for the eyes. At school we had to
make an embroidered table-cloth
in preparation for the visit of an,
inspectress. O u r work was screened
by the teacher prior to the visit and
u p o n seeing Rukmini's table cloth,
she made the cryptic comment:
Don't bring your table cloth to school
tomorrow for the inspection.
"We were not allowed to take up
strenuous household tasks but
father was keen that we girls should
learn some cooking. Mother
obviously didn't agree. Sometimes
we would look into the kitchen to
h e l p her in o r d e r to please lather.
T h e n Amma would show us a little
bit of tamarind or salt and say:
Have vou ever seen this? Do vou know
what it is? All right, now you can go. "
T h e mother felt that since the girls
had too many things to do already,
going to school and learning music.
it was unfair to burden them with
household work. When they grew
u p they would learn it of their own
accord. T h u s , without a strict
regimen, the children had plenty
of free time to be by themselves
and develop their interests.
Before h e r father's death, Rukmini
Devi had come to share his ardent
belief in the goals of Theosophy
and his devotion to D r Annie
Besant who was then a lionized
leader in the seething political
arena. Dr. Besant's eloquence
flooded hearts and moved minds.
H e r probity and integrity and her
extraordinary magnetism left a
profound impact upon people's
minds. T e e n a g e r Rukmini became
a zealous worker for the causes
espoused by Dr. Besant. D u r i n g
this time, as part of the National
Week celebrations, the members of
the Theosophical Society enacted
R a b i n d r a n a t h Tagore's Malini at
the Victoria Public Hall. In one of
the scenes a slip of a girl appeared
a n d sang a song in Kedaragowla
raga. T h e r e were no microphones,
but such was the clarity of tone and
rendition that everyone responded
to its sweetness. T h e r e was warm
applause at the end.
"I was stunned by the impact of
Rukmini Devi's appearance," says
Chandrasekharan who was present
on the occasion. "She was a young
girl, not very fair but with lustrous
eyes and long, heavy black tresses
parted in the middle. T h e dividing
line was clearly visible because of
the darkness of the hair. When she
bowed her head, I could see even
from a distance the beauty of this
feature and understand why
Sanskrit poets waxed lyrical upon
the glory of the central parting line
of the heroines and compared it to
the Milky Way or the flowing
Ganga. I realized that the idealistic
description of seema (especially in
the devi stuti-s) is not far from the
real. Oh, what a picture she made!"
T h i s might sound like the ecstatic
eulogy of a y o u n g man but
Chandrasekharan states that the
impact she made then remained
undiminished through the years
both in her solo performances and
in her dramatic productions. H e
has always felt that Rukmini Devi
belonged to a higher plane of
existence.
Nilakantha Sastri had not wholeheartedly approved of her participation in the play. She had
obtained his consent by
representing that the play was not
for entertainment but for the
national cause. At the end of the
p r o g r a m m e , he was so pleased that
h e took h e r by the shoulders and
said: "My dear, you must become a
musician."
Rukmini Devi became more and
more involved with Theosophy.
Dr. Besant was a perennial source of
inspiration, guiding her creative
spirit. Of this leading light.
Rukmini Devi says it was she who
made her understand the real background of India and kindled a love
for Indian culture.
"Dr. Besant had a Western body
but was a better H i n d u and Indian
than most of us. She taught m e to
respect my heritage. I didn't
appreciate all that was good in our
own country. I couldn't understandwhy she praised India so glowingly
in her lectures. Once when I voiced
my doubts, she replied: My dear,
you have seen the form but you
haven't seen the soul of India. I hope
someday you will understand the
soul. "
Rukmini Devi was an eye-witness
to an incident that illustrated
Dr. Besant's deep love for India —
a love reflected in her involvement
in India's political resurgence and
her social-psychological progress
but also and above all in her regard
for India's spiritual values.
Embarking from a P & 0 steamer
at Bombay's docks, Dr. Besant
prostrated herself on bare earth.
Sensing that Rukmini Devi needed
an explanation of this act, she said:
My dear, this country has given birth
to such greatness that I consider its soil
holy.
Dr. Besant believed that Indian art
was not for the leisured class alone.
In the euphuistic language of the
day, she wrote that beauty
diversified into the arts was the
refiner and uplifter of humanity, as
it was the instrument of true
culture that destroyed prejudice
and petty coarseness. Democracy
a n d equality of social intercourse
could not be actualized without the
universal language of art which
had no limitations of time and
space. Believing that art and
religion were inseparable, she
predicted their united revival
starting from the East and
spreading throughout the world.
O n e of the luminaries a r o u n d
Dr. Besant was Dr. George Sydney
A r u n d a l e , an English-born
educationist who was equally a
lover of India and her ancient
culture. When R u k m i n i Devi met
him at a party given by his aunt in
1913, he was in his mid-thirties. H e
had clearly defined features, and a
distinguished presence. His broad
forehead and arresting eyes
indicated his intellectual
dimension. He was d e b o n a i r
without being flashy. H e was full of
wit and h u m o u r and friendliness,
without losing the glow of
idealism that guided his life a n d
work in the field of education. A
tribute paid by Dr. Sarojini Naidu
vignettes his personality:
" H e taught not only through his
mind but through the imagination
and spirit.... [H]e imparted not
merely knowledge but also a
lovejier thing — faith. His wisdom
expressed itself not only in solemn
counsel but in his gay, spontaneous
laughter, his wit, his h u m o u r and
his speciaPgift of touching with
glamour the commonplaces of life.
H e dedicated the best years and the
best love of his existence in India....
H e had a reverant passion for her
past, a radiant vision of her
future."
Dr. Arundale placed a great deal of
hope in Rukmini Devi working
for that 'radiant future' and
encouraged her potential to flower
outwardly in every way he could.
y o u n g girl of a Brahmin family
with a Sanskritic tradition and a
foreigner was anathema to the
orthodox and the conservative.
Even people with a supposedly
broader outlook cavilled at the
proposed marriage between a
sixteen-year old girl and a fortyyear old man. Sivakamu recalls:
" T h e Madras public was very much
against the marriage. But what was
m o r e surprising, many
theosophists were also against it.
Perhaps the age difference of
upon the reactions of family
members. She feels that their father
would not have opposed the match
as he had respect and regard for
Dr. Arundale but he might have
had certain reservations because of
the age difference. T h e initial
reaction of mother Seshammal
might have been o n e of astonishment but such was her faith and
trust in Dr. Besant that she left the
matter entirely in h e r hands. Sri
Ram, the eldest brother, found
that, as the head of the family, he
A r u n d a l e first saw Rukmini as the
y o u n g d a u g h t e r of a fellow
theosophist. Dr. Sivakamu was a
friend from her Benares days where
she had been a student under his
aunt and he the Principal of the
Central H i n d u College. Dr.
Sivakamu describes him eagerly:
" H e was extremely popular at
Benares, simply adored by
everyone. H e paid personal
attention to every student and
sympathised with his aspirations.
H e did not stop with verbal
encouragement but chose thirteen
of the best students and sent them
to England for further studies. H e
knew every single student at the
College and was devoted to the
cause of education."
Visalakshi's description of
Dr. Arundale is so enthusiastic that
a string of adjectives tumble out:
friendly, helpful, magnanimous,
truly noble, generous. As she saw
him, he was altogether a rare,
warm-hearted person. Love of
young people was a special trait.
H e firmly believed that the great
fruits of India's cultural a n d
spiritual efflorescences of the past
were not the properties of Indians
alone but belonged to humanity at
large.
Dr. Arundale came from an
aristocratic family which h a d
produced painters and artists. H e
himself had once intended to
become a musician. H e was a
connoisseur of the arts who
adopted India as another home.
When Arundale proposed
marriage to Rukmini (this was after
the death of Nilakantha Sastri), it
was as if a volcano had erupted,
spewing hot lava in every
direction. A marriage between a
Sfi Ram & Rukmini
Devi
twenty-four years struck them as
preposterous. T h e truth is that
Dr. A r u n d a l e was a very attractive
person, very talented, with a great
name. So I was not at all surprised
at Rukmini falling for his charm.
H e was a very dear person and I
felt that anybody would have been
attracted to him. H e had liked her
very much and the attachment
ripened into love when she
responded. I must also tell you that
there were many who were
attracted to him, but it was
Rukmini whom h e decided to
marry. In fact, until he met
Rukmini he was very much the
confirmed bachelor absorbed in his
work."
T h e opposition was persistent and
strident. Visalakshi adds m o r e
details to the picture* by dwelling
had to steer all of them out of
troubled waters. Rukmini Devi
herself has recorded, in an obituary
notice she wrote in 1973 on Sri
Ram, her "gentle and just brother"
who had been of great support to
her, that "a storm of protest broke
out in the eountry with the British
and the Indians both objecting, the
first because a Britisher had no
right to marry an Indian, a n d the
other because an Indian Brahmin
girl had no right to marry a
foreigner." In an obstreperous
mood, Yagneswara, another
brother, opposed Rukmini Devi's
decision. H e joined the ranks of his
uncles who thought that in, a
fatherless home, advantage was
being taken of a y o u n g girl's
innocence. Yagneswara had always
been the rebellious protester and
ornaments as my mother felt
jewellery made it unsafe for young
girls. It was a simple registration
ceremony without any chanting of
mantras. A fairly big reception was
held in the evening for the
— Theosophist friends."
his widow N o r m a says that it is this
spirit of contradiction in him that
must have egged him on to take u p
cudgels against Dr. A r u n d a l e .
However, Dr. Besant approved of
the match as a true marriage of two
m a t u r e minds and Sri Ram found
the strength to overcome the
opposition and sanction the
marriage.
T h e question is whether Rukmini
Devi herself had the mental
maturity at that tender age to take
such a decision independently.
Visalakshi laughs as she answers:
"She was always precocious. And
nobody either co-erced or
encouraged her to marry! She
could have refused if she had
wanted to. It was the other way
r o u n d . In spite of all the pressures
and persuasions, she held on to her
decision to marry A r u n d a l e .
Neither Dr. Besant nor Sri Ram
proposed the match. T h e proposal
came from Arundale and she
accepted it. And I for one was overjoyed at her choice. I r e m e m b e r
pacifying mother with Why are you
afraid of others? And I also
r e m e m b e r saying to Rukmini: Oh.
you MUST marry him!
H a v i n g been brought u p on the
Theosophical tradition, the idea of
racial difference did not worry
Rukmini Devi or her family. T h e
mother was certainly aware of the
gargantuan social problems likely
to arise but had confidence in her
d a u g h t e r and abided by her choice.
However, Seshammal was later to
be greatly troubled by the estrangement the marriage caused between
h e r and her brothers, who refused
to visit her 'tainted' home for years.
Fearing to hold the wedding
ceremony in Madras, the family
went to Bombay to solemnize it.
Visalakshi describes the occasion:
" R u k m i n i looked lovely in a
Benares saree in blue with gold
spots. She had on the m i n i m u m of
With the marriage, a radical
change took place in Rukmini's
life. For one thing she stopped
attending school. More
significantly she began to emerge
as a public figure. Public attention
came quickly because of the
unusualness of a woman working
for many causes, coming out into
the open, and it e n d u r e d because of
the value of her contributions. In
the words of Peter Hoffman of
Kalakshetra who has been working
on her biography for many years,
after her marriage Rukmini Devi
"joined in an intimate association
with two of the greatest people of
that period and became daughter,
pupil and helper to Dr. Besant as
well as life's companion and
assistant to Dr. Arundale." H e
adds: "She later became associated
with many other outstanding
people in various fields. She has
travelled virtually over the entire
planet taking the message of Indian
culture an her own message, which
might be described as the religion
of beauty and compassion."
Rukmini Devi herself has said over
and over that at no time did she
feel that Dr. A r u n d a l e was a
foreigner. Sankara Menon explains
that her marriage did not lessen
her attachment to India, but on the
contrary, increased it, for her
husband encouraged her in h e r
quest for the higher things, even as
he opened her eyes to the glories of
Western art by taking her to
museums and art galleries, operas
and plays, music concerts and
dance recitals in Europe.
In starting her new life full of
purposeful activities, Rukmini
Devi quietly found — and revealed
— she had abilities to make
eloquent speeches and she spoke to
many forums. She became the
President of the All India Federation of Young Theosophists (1923)
and later the President of the
World Federation of Y o u n g
Theosophists (1925). She delved
into the tenets of theosophy and
clairvoyant C.W. Leadbeater
initiated her into mysticism and
the occult.
Once a meeting was organized
u n d e r the big banyan tree at the
Theosophical Society. Some very
eminent people were present but
Rukmini Devi addressed them all
confidently. K. C h a n d r a s e k h a r a n
remembers her walking up to the
podium clad in cool yellow silk.
Narayana Menon, a close friend,
was as usual holding an umbrella
over her head to shade her from
the sun. H e r feminine grace and
stately beauty inspired the Right
H o n o u r a b l e Srinivasa Sastri to
turn to Chandrasekharan and
exclaim, What a beautiful figure!
Chandrasekharan says that h e
never saw her appear in anything
garish, or anything that offended
the eye or good taste. Showy razzledazzle and glittering finery were
not for her. She believed then — as
she does now — that the colour
scheme should blend subtly with
the e n v i r o n m e n t . It was not only
her striking beauty that arrested
attention. "She was only twenty-two
or so but she spoke very well."
People were impressed by her
looks and her zeal. Voicing the
feelings of many who came into
contact with her, Chandrasekharan
observes: " T h e r e was an aura, some
indescribable quality that set her
apart from others. Apparently she
was not conscious of her good
looks. She never seemed to care
about being the cynosure of all
eyes. No doubt, she was a beauty.
When her heavy eye-lashes
d r o p p e d , what a picture it m a d e of
Madonna-like loveliness! And
when she began to speak, she could
rise to great heights. Prof. R.
Srinivasan commented that she gets
possessedby a godly power when
she addresses people at meetings."
A force that shaped Rukmini
Devi's future at that time emanated
from a wraithe-like creature, a
ballerina named Anna Pavlova. In
1924, the Arundales were in
London and went to see Pavlova at
the Covent Gardens. That was
Rukmini Devi's first glimpse into
the fairy world of ballet and she*
had become enraptured by the
dancing and more particularly by
the Pavlova magic. T h e famous
dancer appeared in a Russian folk
tale as a princess metamorphosed
into a bird, and subsequently in
her own composition Autumn
Leaves. For Rukmini Devi, it was all
breathless enchantment. She had
seen Western dance before, when
she was fifteen or twenty in Madras.
But that had neither interested h e r
nor kindled her curiosity to learn
more about the different kinds of
Western classical dance. But
Pavlova affected her differently. "I
didn't know anything about ballet,
but I was affected by Pavlova's
delicate beauty and charm. When
she came on stage people used to
gasp and say Aaahhh! and I shared
their fascination."
Anna Pavlova came to India
shortly after and had a season at
Bombay. Rukmini Devi longed to
see her although it was the time of
the annual Theosophical
convention at Benares. T h e
President of the convention
remarked sarcastically, What is all
this mad rush, running after a dancer?
Undeterred, Rukmini Devi
journeyed to see Pavlova and again
felt the magic. She went backstage
to meet the stir and saw the
ballerina come out of h e r room
lightfootedly and talking quickly.
"She turned me around and
looked at my saree, my figure and
then with an Oh, it's lovely to see you,
dashed out in a hurry," she recalls.
"And I thought she walked out of
my life."
It turned out she was wrong. In
1928, Society work took the
Arundales to Australia and the East
Indies. Dr. Arundale lectured in
city after city. T o their surprise
and delight, the couple found that
the Pavlova Company'was also
touring the same cities
simultaneously. And in every
single city Rukmini Devi told h e r
new friends that they must see the
great Pavlova and she attended the
concerts with them. Finally, at
Surabaya, when she and
Dr. Arundale got into a boat
sailing tp Australia, whom should
they see but Pavlova and her whole
troupe of forty dancers!
O n e of them was charming Cleo
Nordi, a soloist who unexpectedly
came to the Arundales and told
them that she was pleased to meet
them. She later became Rukmini
Devi's ballet instructor.
T h e encounter with Pavlova was
more intimate. In the boat were
two luxury cabins facing o n e
another. Rukmini Devi came out of
hers to find Pavlova emerging
from the other with a pleasant
Hello! "After that, I was following
her about everywhere. I had no
ambition to learn ballet but I
watched her with rapt wonder.
T h e r e was a swimming pool at the
top deck where the whole company
would gather to practise ballet and
I would be there watching them."
Soon R u k m i n i Devi got to know
Pavlova very well. While sitting on
the deck one day, Rukmini Devi
said to her: "I wish I could dance
like you but I know I never can."
Pavlova was quick to reply: "No,
no. You must never say that. You
don't have to dance, for if you just .
walk across the stage, it will be
enough. People will come to watch
you do just that." T h i s warm
tribute to her grace from one so
dainty herself was — and is still
today — greatly cherished by
R u k m i n i Devi. T h e thrill was
enhanced when she reached the
hotel after disembarking and found
an e n o r m o u s bouquet of flowers
with the note Love from Pavlova.
While in Australia, Rukmini Devi
helped edit the n u m e r o u s
photographs Pavlova had taken in
India. She also wrote captions for
them and all this threw Pavlova
and h e r together a lot and helped
develop a'rich relationship
between the middle aged dancer
and the girl in her early twenties.
Rukmini Devi went to every
performance with large groups of
friends and this adoration made
Pavlova give her a free pass.
Sometimes she would stand in the
wings (a privilege the ballerina
gave no one else) and watch. Every
once in a while Pavlova would
dance towards her and say How are
you darling or Oh I'm so nervous and
pirouette away. Rukmini Devi
r e m e m b e r s that many members of
the company said Pavlova showed
this interest because Rukmini Devi
was an I n d i a n and Pavlova loved
everything Indian. Apparently,
they gave credit not to R u k m i n i
Devi's charm but to the fact of her
being Indian. Such remarks didn't
bother her any, she says.
T o u c h e d by Rukmini Devi's
devotion, Pavlova told her on one
occasion: "You seem so fond of the
dance. I'm sure you can learn it."
"Learn! I'm too old to begin. I
don't think I can be a dancer." This
was R u k m i n i replying. A n d
Pavlova: "If you were a Westerner,
I would agree but you are an
Indian. You have a supple body
and I think you can learn ballet. I
will teach you if you come to
London. In the meanwhile Cleo
who is staying on in Australia will
teach you."
An examination of Rukmini Devi's
feet confirmed Pavlova in h e r
opinion and so R u k m i n i Devi
made an appointment with Pavlova
to meet her in London. H e r lessons
with Miss Nordi began as a preparation for the honour. But one day,
when Rukmini Devi was sitting on
a ferry, one of h e r friends who was
r e a d i n g the newspaper suddenly
cried out: "Look! Look at the
headlines! Anna Pavlova is
dead." .
Lost a bit in memory lane,
Rukmini Devi sighs and concludes
her recapitulation: "And so ended
my career with Anna Pavlova. I
learnt ballet from Cleo Nordi and z
few others. I did perform
sometimes with my friends but
never with the idea of becoming a
full-fledged daiicer. It was just to
train my body and m o r e for the
sheer joy of learning something
beautiful. Incidentally Pavlova
once said to m e : You CAN learn
ballet but I think that everyone m\ist
try to revive the art of his own country.
Pavlova herself stated that she h a d
said the same thing to Uday
Shankar who danced with her as
Krishna."
(First in a series)