Darshana Jhaveri (born 1940), the youngest of the four ''Jhaveri sisters'', is a leading

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n exponent of

Manipuri dance , image = , alt = , caption = An illustration of the ''Manipuri Raas Leela'' dance, being depicted in a stamp from Armenia; transliterations of "Jagoi Raas" and "Manipuri Raas Leela", the terms in Meitei language (offi ...

, an Indian classical dance form. She is a disciple of Guru Bipin Singh, and started performing on stage in 1958 along with her sisters. She is one of the founders of the ''Manipuri Nartanalaya'' in 1972, which popularized Manipuri dance in India, and is currently headed by her, with centres at

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

and

Imphal Imphal ( Meitei pronunciation: /im.pʰal/; English pronunciation: ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Manipur. The metropolitan centre of the city contains the ruins of Kangla Palace (also known as Kangla Fort), the royal seat of the fo ...

Early life and training

Darshana Jhaveri was born and brought up in

in a

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

household. At the age of six, she saw her elder sisters, Nayana and Ranjana, learn Manipuri dance from Guru Bipin Singh at their home. Soon, she too started learning the dance form, along with her sister Suverna. Later, she learned the traditional ''Raslila'' dances from Sutradhari Kshetritombi Devi, the ''Nata Pung'' from Guru Meitei Tomba Singh and traditional ''Maibi Jagoi'' from Kumar Maibi.

Career

By the 1950s, the ''Jhaveri sisters'' Nayana, Ranjana, Suverna, and Darshana had started performing together on stage all over India and abroad, and, in 1956, were the first non-Manipuris to perform their dances at the Govindji Temple inside the royal palace of

. Eventually, the sisters established the ''Manipuri Nartanalaya'' with their Guru and Kalavati Devi in 1972, at Mumbai, Kolkata, and Imphal, and in time their name became synonymous to Manipuri dance. Over the years, Darshana has published several books and articles on the dance and has assisted her guru during his lifetime, in teaching, research as well as in choreography, before taking on the mantle herself. According to a noted dance critic Sunil Kothari in a 2008 article, they are "responsible for bringing the temple tradition of Manipuri dance to the cities". The article also noted that Nayana died two decades ago and, with Suverna unwell, Ranjana and Darshana continue to perform along with her Dance troupe and teach Manipuri dance.

Awards and honors

Darshana Jhaveri received the

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (IPA: Saṅgīta Nāṭaka Akādamī Puraskāra), also known as the Akademi Puraskar, is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in Englis ...

in 1996 by

Sangeet Natak Akademi Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in English) is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India. History It was set up by the Indian education ministry on 31 May 1952 and be ...

, India's National Academy of Dance, Music and Drama.Dance Manipuri awardees

website She was honored with the

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

in 2002. She was awarded the Kalidas Samman Award in 2018.

Notes

References

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External links

Darshana Jhaveri's personal website

Padmashri Darshana Jhaveri
at '' SPIC MACAY''
Darshan Jhaveri and her troupe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jhaveri, Darshana Indian female classical dancers Performers of Indian classical dance Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Artists from Mumbai Living people Gujarati people 1940 births Teachers of Indian classical dance Indian classical choreographers Manipuri classical Indian dance exponents Indian women choreographers Indian choreographers Women educators from Maharashtra Educators from Maharashtra Indian dance teachers Dancers from Maharashtra 20th-century Indian dancers 20th-century Indian women artists Women artists from Maharashtra Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship