Noted danseuse Mrinalini Sarabhai passes away at 97
Noted danseuse Mrinalini Sarabhai passes away at 97
Mrinalini Sarabhai was a trained Bharatanatyam, Kathakali and Mohiniyattam dancer
Mrinalini Sarabhai, a classical dancer and Padma Bhushan awardee, died from complications related to old age, her family said. She was 97.
Noted danseuse and Padma Bhushan awardee Mrinalini Sarabhai passed away at her Ahmedabad home in Usmanpura area on Thursday morning. She was the wife of renowned Indian scientist and the father of India’s space programme Vikram Sarabhai.
The noted classical dancer was 97 and is survived by her children Mallika Sarabhai, Kartikeya Sarabhai, four grand-children and three great-grandchildren. Early Thursday morning, her daughter and noted danseuse Mallika Sarabhai took to Facebook to share the news as she wrote, “My mother Mrinalini Sarabhai has just left for her eternal dance.”
“She had been admitted in the hospital a day before. She had developed an infection and her systems had given way. She was brought to her home in Usmanpura, but passed away in the morning today at 10:10 am. My mother had a long and peaceful life,” said Kartikeya Sarabhai, her son and a noted environmentalist and Director of Ahmedabad-based CEE (Center for Environment Education).
A trained Bharatanatyam, Kathakali and Mohiniyattam dancer, Mrinalini Sarabhai was born in Kerala, raised in Switzerland and has also studied at the renowned Shantiniketan university under the tutelage of Rabindranath Tagore.
The last rites of the danseuse will be held at a farmhouse owned by the family in Pethapur village in Gandhinagar. A funeral procession will be taken from the Darpana Dance Academy at Usmanpura at 3pm and the last rites will be performed in the evening around 5:15pm, said Kartikeya. In a befitting tribute, her last journey would begin from the Darpana Academy dance floor, the very institution she founded, said sources.