Bharatanatyam’s Pandanallur link

Meenakshisundaram Pillai is credited with having re-imaged the margam for the modern stage

As part of its celebrating 75 years of Independence, Kalakshetra Foundation has named an avenue in its campus after Pandanallur Meenakshisundaram Pillai, the revered guru who made the temple town of Pandanallur synonymous with Bharatanatyam. Meenakshisundaram Pillai (1869-1954) was a simple man who came to Madras at the invitation of E. Krishna Iyer, founder-secretary of the Music Academy. In the early 1930s, he created history by conducting the dance recital of two young girls, Rajalakshmi and Jeevarathnam, known as the Tiruvalapputhur Kalyani daughters.

He did not know that in the audience was seated the 30-year-old theosophist Rukmini Devi, who was mesmerised by the performance. To realise her dream of becoming a dancer, she approached him to teach her and it was then that she sowed the seeds for Kalakshetra.