Mrinalini Sarabhai (1918-2016), called ‘Amma,’ was an Indian dancer, choreographer, teacher, and activist, known for mastering and preserving classical South Indian dance forms. Wife of renowned Indian scientist Vikram Sarabhai, she is a Padma Sri and Padma Bhushan recipient and is recognized as the first female Kathakali dancer. Mrinalini revived Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Mohiniattam, and Kuchipudi in a contemporary style. She is considered the ‘High Priestess of Indian Classical Dance’ and is the founding director of Darpana Academy of Performing Arts. Mrinalini is also an author and environmentalist. He died on January 21, 2016 of complications from a stomach infection.
Wiki/Biography
Mrinalini Sarabhai was born on Saturday, 11 May 1918 (age 97 years; at death) in Madras Presidency, British India (now Chennai or Kerala, India). His zodiac sign is Taurus. He grew up in a family of liberal revolutionary fighters, who belonged to the Vadakath Tharavad Family. His mother and father are independence activists. Mrinalini attended boarding school at Dalcroze School, Switzerland for 2 years. He was later educated in music and painting by Rabindranath Tagore and Nandlal Bose in Shantiniketan, West Bengal, India. Here, she realized that her true calling was to become a dancer.
Mrinalini Sarabhai, student of Rabindranath Tagore
She went for dance training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in the United States and returned to India to be trained in Bharatanatyam by Meenakshisundaram Pillai and Kathakali by Guru Kunchu Kurup.
Bharatanatyam Guru Mrinalini Sarabhai, Meenakshisundaram Pillai
Physical appearance
Height (approx): 5′ 4″
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Gray
Family & Caste
Mrinalini Sarabhai comes from a Tamil Brahmin and Malayali Nair family. Mrinalini’s mother was his father’s Sambandham partner and later became his wife. Sambandham is an informal marriage custom under the Malabar Marriage Act, of 1896, which allows a Nair woman to have multiple partners from upper-caste Brahmins, Kshatriyas or Nair families, except men from the same house. This custom stopped around the 1920s.
Parents & Siblings
Mrinalini Sarabhai’s father, Subbarama Swaminathan, was a prominent Indian independence activist and a professional criminal lawyer in the Madras High Court. He also served as the principal of the Madras Law College. His mother, Ammu Swaminathan, was a social activist, an Indian independence activist, and a member of parliament.
Mrinalini Sarabhai (left) with her mother, Ammu Swaminathan
He has two siblings. The elder sister, Lakshmi Sahgal, was the commander-in-chief of the ‘Rani of the Jhansi Regiment’ of the Azad Hind Fauj. He is also a doctor and a politician.
Lakshmi Sahgal, sister of Mrinalini Sarabhai
Mrinalini’s brother, Govind Swaminadhan, is a lawyer in criminal, constitutional, civil and company law. He also served as Attorney General for the state of Madras (now Tamil Nadu).
Govind Swaminadhan, Mrinalini Sarabhai’s brother
Husband & Son
Mrinalini Sarabhai’s husband is Vikram Sarabhai, a famous Indian physicist, whom she married in 1942. Vikram Sarabhai founded the Indian Space and Research Organization (ISRO) and the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, India.
Mrinalini Sarabhai and Vikram Sarabhai wedding pictures
She gave birth to a son and a daughter.
Old photo of Mrinalini Sarabhai with her children, Kartikeya Sarabhai and Mallika Sarabhai
Kartikeya Sarabhai, his son, is a renowned environmentalist and educationist. He is the director of the Ahmedabad-based Center for Environmental Education.
Kartikeya Sarabhai, son of Mrinalini Sarabhai
Mallika Sarabhai, his daughter, is an Indian dancer, actress, and chancellor of a reputed university, Kerala Kalamandalam.
Mallika Sarabhai, daughter of Mrinalini Sarabhai
Other relatives
His grandson Revanta Sarabhai is an actor, dancer and choreographer.
Revanta Sarabhai, grandson of Mrinalini Sarabhai
Anahita Sarabhai is the granddaughter of Mrinalini Sarabhai, who is a performing artist, educator, consultant and writer. He is the founding director of QuuerAbad, an online platform for Ahmedabad’s LGBTQIA community.
Anahita Sarabhai, granddaughter of Mrinalini Sarabhai
Ambalal Sarabhai, an Indian industrialist and philanthropist, who supported Mahatma Gandhi, was Mrinalini’s father-in-law.
Ambalal Sarabhai
Signature/Autograph
Mrinalini Sarabhai’s signature
Career
Dancer & Choreographer
By the 1940s, Mrinalini Sarabhai had become a prominent danseuse, whose Bharatanatyam and Kathakali performances were based on contemporary social issues that had a message for people to check their actions against dangerous activities prevalent in society. He connects spirituality with his dance. He once wrote,
How many lives before
I danced away with passion
From my heart
How much fire burns my body into nothingness
Releasing energy
More real than life
Curled up into my atma
For every new renewed life
i dance
And will dance again.”
Some of his most popular dance productions are:
- Manushya (1958) – This was his first popular Kathakali performance with Kavngal Chathunni Panicker; it was the first Kathakali performance by a woman. It was especially praised by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. It was also his first show to tour internationally.
Jawaharlal Nehru praised Mrinalini Sarabhai after the performance of ‘Manushya’, the first Kathakali performance by a woman
- Ganga – to make people aware about polluting the holy water of river Ganga in the name of religion. This dance ballet portrays how people are polluted just like the Ganga, and how they need to be aware of their actions to become as pure as the Ganga River that was clean of dirt in the past.
- Remembrance: Torn Fragments of Immortality – it’s about the dowry death issue.
Mrinalini Sarabhai in Nataraja pose
- Ranmalpur – it voiced violence against Dalits.
- Aspiration – it was inspired by the movement against the construction of the Silent Valley Hydroelectric Project in Kerala.
- Shakuntala – this was created on Western classical music.
He is internationally recognized for his choreography for the Ballet Folklorico of Mexico for which he received a gold medal from the Mexican government.
Instructor & Founder of Darpana Performing Arts Academy
In her later years, Mrinalini Sarabhai served as a teacher of Indian classical dance at the dance institute Darpana Academy of Performing Arts, Ahmedabad, which she opened in 1948 with the support of her husband, Vikram Sarabhai.
Writer
Mrinalini Sarabhai wrote various books on dance, history, and mythology. She wrote an autobiography titled Mrinalini Sarabhai: The Voice of the Heart and is an active blogger.
Suara Hati, the autobiography of Mrinalini Sarabhai
Mrinalini has also composed, ”Sacred Dance of India.’
Awards & Honors
- Natya Kala Sikhamani (1960)
- Gold Medal by the Government of Mexico (1968)
- Gujarat’s first state award for dance (1969)
- Vishwa Gurjari Award (1984)
- Desikottama (D.Litt. Honoris Causa) degree by Vishva-Bharati University (1987)
- Sangeet Natak Academy Fellowship (1994)
- Kerala’s first state award for dance, Nishagandhi Puraskaram (2013)
Death
Mrinalini Sarabhai died on Thursday, January 21, 2016, in Ahmedabad, India, at the age of 97 due to a stomach condition related to old age.
Facts/Trivia
- He was the first Indian to be awarded a Diploma and medal from the French International Archives de la Danse in 1994.
- She is the first and only woman to be honored with Veer Shankila for her contribution to Kathakali.
- He is sensitive about the environment and has based many of his dance dramas on giving a message to people to stop the destruction of natural resources. He and his friends also created a group called ‘Friends of the Tree.’
- Mrinalini Sarabhai’s character can be seen in Rocket Boys, a web series based on the lives of Vikram Sarabhai and Homi J. Bhabha. Actress Regina Cassandra portrays her character.
Regina Cassandra plays Mrinalini Sarabhai in the web series Rocket Boys
- He was nominated as a member of the Executive Committee of the International Dance Council, Paris, in 1990.
- He is the chairman of the Gujarat State Handicrafts and Handloom Development Corporation Ltd and the Nehru Foundation for Development (NFD).
- He is one of the trustees of the Sarvodaya International Trust, an organization that promotes Gandhi’s ideals.
- Google Doodle celebrates its 100th birthday on May 11, 2018.
Google Doodle of Mrinalini Sarabhai, honoring her 100th birth anniversary
- At Shantiniketan, he took part in Rabindranath Tagore’s dance drama.
- Mrinalini Sarabhai also took a sound processing course from America.
Categories: Biography
Source: SCHOOL TRANG DAI
