Rukmini Arundale

When the then prime minister Morarji Desai offered the chair of the President of India to Rukmini Devi Arundale in 1977 she politely declined. She decided she could do without the trappings of the state that a stint in Rashtrapati Bhavan would bring in. She was not a stranger to fame or power. She had occupied a niche in the arena of Indian culture long before that. Her powerful personality, her contribution to the renaissance of Bharatanatyam and her creation of Kalakshetra, the world-renowned centre of arts in Chennai, earned her great admiration. Less widely known is her work for animal welfare and vegetarianism long before either of these causes became fashionable.

A little over a hundred years ago, on February 29, 1904, a girl was born to Neelakanta Sastri and Seshammal. They named her Rukmini Devi. She would one day be known the world over as Rukmini Devi Arundale, a respected authority on dance, music and culture.

Though she lived in a house next to a Bharatanatyam dancer, she was not drawn to dance as a child. A nattuvanar (conductor of bharatanatyam) lived behind her house, and she grew up listening to music and the beat of the thattukazhi (a wooden block and stick instrument used for beats), but it did not mean much to her. Later she wrote, 'I am sometimes surprised that my destiny led me to be a dance.

Her father was an engineer with the Public Works Department. It was a transferable job and the family moved frequently. In 1906, her father was introduced to the Theosophical Society. Though Rukmini Devi's sisters were married even before they entered their teens, he and a group of his friends took an oath under Dr Annie Besant (who headed the Society) that they would not allow child marriage in their families.
Rukmini Devi's father became a firm believer in Dr Besant's movement. The whole family moved from Chengalpet to Chennai, bought a piece of land next to the Theosophical Society in Adyar.

It was only after shifting to Madras that Rukmini Devi began attending regular school. She spent most of her free time on the grounds of the Theosophical Society. Slowly, Rukmini was drawn to art, nature and animals.
Rukmini Devi was just 14 when she first met Dr George Arundale in 1917. He worked closely with Dr Annie Besant and was in charge of her paper, New India. What attracted Rukmini Devi to Dr Arundale was his 'striking personality and sense of humour.
After a couple of years, Dr Arundale proposed to her. Rukmini Devi wrote, 'I really cannot tell why I decided to marry Dr Arundale. Maybe there is a destiny in these matters. I did not even think that it was a revolutionary step that I was taking.'
After they decided to get married, Dr Arundale took her to meet Dr Annie Besant.
Though Rukmini Devi's mother was supportive of her decision (her father had passed away by then), there were strong protests from relatives and the community. The public protest was so bad that the couple were forced to marry in Mumbai. Dr Besant stood by them.

It was Anna Pavlova, the legendary ballet dancer, who first suggested she learn dance. Rukmini Devi was in her late twenties then. Meenakshisundaram Pillai, her guru, was quite old so he would remain seated as he taught her.

Once she made up her mind to learn dance, she worked very hard. She began practicing from seven in the morning till seven in the evening, with an hour's break for lunch. The guru pushed her even more and would call her again for training at night.
Initially, conservative Madras could not accept the fact that a Brahmin girl had taken up dancing. But her astounding performances converted them.

Rukmini revolutionized many things connected with dance. She made the musicians sit on the side of the stage. She designed her own costumes; she replaced tawdry dance-wear with exquisitely designed costumes and jewellery and presented the dance in beautiful settings. She used her sense of aesthetics to enhance the beauty of dance presentation. She sanitized it by virtually eliminating the sringara (erotic) element and enveloping it in bhakti.

Her performance at the Diamond Jubilee convention of the Theosophical Society amazed Dr Arundale, who had till then thought dance was a delightful hobby his young wife. After the performance, he realized it was more of a spiritual experience. They decided to start a dance academy and hence Kalakshetra was born.

At Kalakshetra, Rukmini Devi wanted the best of music by the greatest of musicians. She wanted Sanskrit classics set to pure classical music and made into dance dramas. She wanted everything -- the music, the dance, the story -- to be pure and classical. Kalakshetra grew to become a pioneering institution; path-breaking artistes from all over the country taught there. She collaborated with the best musicians and scholars and her dance dramas were pioneering; Valmiki's Ramayana and Jayadeva's Gita Govinda.
Even as a child, Rukmini Devi loved animals. She was horrified to see goats being sacrificed in temples. She would say, 'The frightened look in the eyes of the animals used to haunt me in my dreams for a long time.'

She became a member of the Rajya Sabha in 1952. She said, 'I should like to be the chosen representative of the tiger, the lion, the dog and the deer, the helpless and the voiceless.'

She was instrumental in getting the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (1960) passed as a Central Act. As a result of her effort, the Animal Welfare Board of India was established in 1962 as a statutory body under the PCA Act. Her landmark achievement was making it the fundamental duty of every citizen to show kindness and compassion to all living beings.

She also started a powerful national vegetarian society in India.

Rukmini Devi Arundale died at the age of 82. She was a legend in her own lifetime and one of the towering personalities of the 20th century.