Rukmini Devi Arundale

She met Dr. George Arundale when she was just a young girl. Arundale, 26 years her senior, immediately fell in love with her. Her family vehemently opposed the match due to the age difference and also because Arundale was British.

She went against the conservative society and married him in 1920. Their marriage was a happy one and her husband acted as a mentor to her and encouraged her professional ambitions. They couple did not have any children.

She died on 24 February 1986 in Chennai, at the age of 82.

She was born on 29 February 1904 in Madurai, India. Her father Neelakanta Sastri was an engineer and a scholar while her mother Seshammal was a music enthusiast. Theirs was a traditional upper class Brahmin family.

Her father was deeply involved with the theosophical society and thus the young Rukmini was exposed to theosophy from an early age. Because of the society she also became acquainted with new ideas on culture, music, dance and theatre.

She met Dr. George Arundale, a British theosophist and a close associate of Annie Besant and developed a relationship with him. They got married in 1920 when she was just 16 years old.

Following her marriage she traveled all over the world and met many inspiring people like educator Maria Montessori and the poet James Cousins.

She became the President of the All-India Federation of Young Theosophists in 1923 and the President of the World Federation of Young Theosophists in 1925.

She met the famous Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova in 1928 when she was in Bombay for a performance. Then they also traveled on the same ship to Australia and the two women forged a friendship over the course of the journey.

Inspired by Pavlova, Rukmini decided to learn ballet and for a while trained under the dancer Cleo Nordi. Later on Pavlova advised Rukmini to focus on discovering traditional Indian dance forms, and thus Rukmini turned towards Bharatnatyam.

She began learning the dance form, first from 'Mylapore Gowri Amma’, and later from 'Pandanallur Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai'. She was almost 30 when she started learning dance but was a very dedicated learner.

She was honored with the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award of India, in 1956, for her contribution to arts.

The Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar (Akademi Award), the highest Indian recognition given to practicing artists, was bestowed upon her in 1967 by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama.

The Animal Welfare Board of India presented her with ‘Prani Mitra’ award in 1968 for her work as an animal rights activist.