Rukmini Devi is one of the most iconic women of the 20th century. For the kind of extraordinary life she led and the institutions she built, one would have thought there would be many books written about her. But, there are hardly any. The country has not really celebrated her enough. Leela Samson?s biography of her guru is possibly the first full-length account of the life and times of Rukmini Devi.
Most of us who grew up in Madras remember her as the goddess of Kalakshetra, the centre for performing arts and excellence, set up in sylvan surroundings near the seashore. Very few of us had an inkling of the struggles she went through to establish the institution. But Rukmini Devi was not only the founder of Kalakshetra; she had many other path-breaking achievements to her credit. She was a theosophist, an educationist, a dancer, choreographer, animal rights activist and a noted parliamentarian. She led an active life till the very end.
It is difficult now to imagine a highly protected, 16-year-old girl from a Tamil Brahmin family, born in 1904, marrying an English aristocrat 26 years older than her, and the kind of waves it created in society and media then. Rukmini?s father was an executive engineer with the Madras Presidency and a Sanskrit scholar. Her mother came from a family with deep interest in music. Rukmini and her siblings were fortunate to have enlightened parents. Her father was attracted to Buddhism. Her oldest brother Sri Ram was a theosophist and the family moved to Adayar in Chennai, the centre of the theosophical movement. And, Rukmini?s life changed for ever.
The Theosophical Society was established in 1875 by Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott. Among the Society?s objects were the formation of ?a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or colour, the study of comparative religion, philosophy and science, an investigation into the unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in man?. Dr Annie Besant, a firebrand socialist from England came under the spell of Madame Blavatsky?s thoughts and moved to Madras. Once there, she was amazed to see the autocratic way the British ruled India and Indians behaving like slaves. She took it upon herself to rouse their self respect. Dr Besant brought Cambridge scholar George Sydney Arundale, already a theosophist, to teach history in Central Hindu College, Benares, which she had founded.
Arundale moved to Madras, where he met Rukmini. They fell in love and married against all kinds of opposition. Rukmini Devi traveled all over the world with her husband and became very close to Dr Besant. She plunged into various activities of the Society. At the same time, she got to see the famous dancer, Anna Pavlova, dance and was entranced by the art form. Later in Madras, she witnessed a sadir (as Bharatanatyam was called then) performance by the Pandanallur sisters and took it up herself.
When Rukmini Devi gave a dance recital on December 30, 1935?the first time by a Brahmin woman?there was a lot of opposition by many people. But once people saw her perform and her sense of aesthetics, even the most violent opponent converted. About women?s role in culture, Rukmini had this to say, ?Women have everything to do with bringing culture into everyday life, with the expression of it, with the helping and influencing of a nation not only because they are mothers, but also because they themselves are an example of individuals.?
Exactly one week after her performance in the first week of January 1936, Rukmini Devi established the International Academy of Arts at Adyar. ?The founding members were united by their common enthusiasm for the cause of India?s art, which they were convinced was a treasure that belonged not only to India, but the world.? This is the institution that was renamed Kalakshetra?a name suggested by Rabindranath Tagore when Rukmini performed for him in Shantiniketan.
Earlier, Arundale had started the Besant Education Trust and Memorial School in 1934 in Adyar and a young K Sankara Menon, a brilliant aristocrat scholar from Kerala, took over as the principal. These two institutions went through a lot of turmoil when Rukmini Devi fell out with the theosophists. By this time, she had to deal with the loss of the two major influences of her life, Dr Annie Besant and George Arundale.
She coped, managed to shift the institutions to far away Tiruvanmiyur. She continued to create, attract the best names in music and dance to her institutions, become a parliamentarian, court many controversies, and still do what she thought was right. Leela Samson, now the director of Kalakshetra, gives us a tantalising glimpse into Rukmini Devi?s fascinating life. She makes her sound human, referring to her imperious nature, bluntness and so on. The result is an elegant account her guru would have approved of.