Yamini Krishnamurthy (1940-2024)

Yamini Krishnamurthy — A collection of images

Bharatanatyam maestro Yamini Krishnamurthy started learning the traditional art form at a very young age. Growing up in a place like Chidambaram, the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibushan awardee once said that Karanas sculpted on the walls of the temples had made a huge impact in her mind and she had always been awed by various postures of Nataraja. Her father Krishnamurti, who was a Sanskrit scholar, sacrificed his career to support her interest in dance. 

She learned Bharathanatyam at Kalakshetra (Madras) under Rukmini Devi Arundale. She had learnt Kutchipudi under great teachers like Vedantam Lakshmi Narayana Sastry, Pasumarthi Venu Gopal Sharma, Chinta Krishnamurthy and Vedantam Satyanarayana Sharma. Her training in Odissi was under teachers like Pankaj Charan Das and Kelucharan Mohapatra.

Towards the end of her life, she was living in New Delhi, running the institute Nritya Kaustubha.