Essence of the beautiful

Rukmini Devi was a towering figure in every sphere of activity she undertook. Here is a book which takes one on a stunning visual journey through the artiste's life, says GOWRI RAMNARAYAN.

IN every sphere of her interest she became a towering role model: a major renaissance figure in Bharatanatyam; institution-builder with Kalakshetra, a centre for the arts that she founded and nurtured; inspiring guru to three generations of students; innovator of a new genre in her dance dramas; tireless campaigner in the cause of animal welfare; eloquent leader in propagating the Theosophical movement with lectures across the world; educationist who believed that knowledge and creativity must go hand-in-hand.

Rukmini Devi, takes us on a stunning visual journey through the remarkable life of the eminent artiste's multifaceted personality. It is easy to see that for the photographers Conrad Woldring whose work represents the early phase of Rukmini Devi's life, and C. Nachiappan (head, Kovilur Mutt) who has done most of the pictures, the highly sensitive recording of Rukmini Devi's work was in itself an art experience. The book is a treasure house of archival material starting with the early pre- Kalakshetra plays "The Light of Asia" and "Karaikkal Ammaiyar", with the young Rukmini as poignant Yashodhara and devout saint. Her costumes testify to her extraordinary aesthetic sense which was soon to revolutionise the perception of dance in its stage presentation.

The many full-page pictures of Rukmini Devi herself in solo performance and of her original dance drama productions repeatedly draw our attention to her exquisite taste, at once subtle and delicate, with a strong sense of background and structure. They bear black and white testimony to her many-sided achievements. There are a few pictures in colour too, but it is the former which create a sense of an ideal reality.

The book also shows you how her pioneering work involved maestros Tiger Varadachariar (there's a lovely picture of Rukmini Devi smiling shyly in his music class), Mysore Vasudevachar, Papanasam Sivan and Krishnamachariar on a wheel chair; as also world celebrities from every field visiting Kalakshetra from Dame Sybil Thorndike to the Dalai Lama, Maria Montessori to Indira Gandhi.

It is often said that Rukmini Devi concentrated on bhakti (devotion) at the cost of the more potent sringara (love). The photographs tell a different story. They reveal that in the dance dramas of Kalakshetra, not only sringara, but the navarasas (nine elemental emotions) found powerful expression along with their sancharis (attendant feelings). We sense their turbulences culminating in bhakti and santa.

Rukmini Devi also gives you a brisk overview of the other activities in Kalakshetra from the weaving department which revived forgotten handloom traditions and the publication programmes which issued many valuable books. These include the now out of print volume on the artist Nandlal Bose and the works of Dr. Maria Montessori who spent the war years in Adyar training teachers.

The few pages of the text are extracts from diverse sources - from scholar aesthete K. Chandrasekharan to oldtimer S. V. Venugopalan, from theosophist Betsan Coats to Barbara Sellon. Rukmini Devi's own writings appear in a new light when accompanied by the visuals shaped by her fervid imagination.

It is a pity that a book put together with so much love, sincerity and caring design should be marred by typos and editing errors.

Rukmini Devi, Kalakshetra Press, 2001, Rs. 2,000 (two volumes).

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