Remembering a Pioneer of Classical Dance, Mrinalini Sarabhai

‘My mother just left for her eternal dance’, is how her daughter, Mallika Sarabhai, announced her death.

Every human being is born with a vision. Some recognise it, some become aware of it and some know it not at all. From the moment of my knowledge of existence, I claimed the dance as my own life. It shaped the entire consciousness of my being and never changed, for it was the only direction of my heart, mind and innermost soul. It has, till now, been my state of enlightenment, my closest experience of divinity.

Mrinalini Sarabhai

On Thursday, noted Indian danseuse Mrinalini Sarabhai passed away, leaving a magnificent legacy of art behind her. A Padma Bhushan recipient and one of the pioneers of classical dance in a contemporary India, Sarabhai was 97 when she succumbed to an infection.

‘My mother just left for her eternal dance’, is how her daughter and renowned danseuse Mallika Sarabhai announced her death, on Facebook. She paid homage to her mother by dancing to a song dedicated to Lord Krishna, Sarabhai’s favourite deity.

Fondly known as Amma, Sarabhai trained in Bharatnatyam, Kathakali and Mohiniattam. Educated at Shantiniketan under Rabindranath Tagore, she was also was a poet, writer and environmentalist.

Sarabhai will always hold a special place in Ahmedabad’s heart because, in 1949, it was here that she started Darpana, her dance school that played the pivotal role of injecting art and culture in the city’s veins. Today, thousands of students, artists and friends mourn the loss of a great comrade, who enjoyed traditions as much as the latest technology. Yadavan Chandran, a filmmaker who has been heading Darpana Communications for over a decade, said, “I have spent more than five years documenting her life and what an illustrious life it has been. How many children she has taught and people she has inspired.”

In a blog she kept, Sarabhai wrote about tolerance as well. “Wisdom, compassion, non-violence are all lessons to be learnt by deliberate means. Each one of us needs to replace anger with compassion, hatred with understanding and other negative emotions – with a conscious effort,” she wrote.

She was much ahead of her time, from propagating simple and spiritual aradhanas over lavish arangetrams, suggesting cash prizes for the upkeep of dance institutions instead of awards and trophies to respecting nature by opting for a biogas plant in Darpana, that uses leftover food and green foliage to generate cooking gas.

Part of an illustrious family, she was married to the architect of India’s space programme, Dr Vikram Sarabhai, and is survived by her daughter Mallika, her son Kartikeya, who runs the Centre for Environment Education in Ahmedabad, and her grandchildren Revanta and Anahita Sarabhai.