The Vazhuvur bani’s brightest star
| Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives
Legendary Bharatanatyam artiste Kamala Lakshminarayanan, fondly known as Baby Kamala and later Kumari Kamala, passed away in California at the age of 91. She was one of the last links to the transformative decades when sadir was reborn as Bharatanatyam and reclaimed as a classical art on the public stage.
Along with her guru, Vazhuvoor Ramaiah Pillai, Kamala came to define the ornate, lyrical Vazhuvur bani for more than half a century. Under his guidance, she helped establish the style’s signature blend of grace, flowing lines and dramatic sweep as the reigning aesthetic of mid‑20th‑century Bharatanatyam.
Her nritta was marked by clarity, fluidity and finish, while her abhinaya had the unforced immediacy of spoken poetry, resting on a deep grounding in Carnatic music.
Born in 1934, Kamala went on to straddle both stage and cinema. She toured the world extensively, and eventually settled in the U.S., where she continued to teach and advocate for the art. Honours such as the Padma Bhushan and the U.S. National Heritage Fellowship acknowledged what rasikas already knew: that she was one of Bharatanatyam’s defining modern architects.
Published – November 25, 2025 04:22 pm IST
