One and only resident dancer of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams

Bharatanatyam doyenne Yamini Krishnamurthy’s demise is a great loss to India and its rich classical dance community. Yamini has led a dedicated life spanning four decades in the art of dance. Such was her devotion that she gave a ‘no’ to marriage in fear that it would bring down her love for the dance form.

Born on 20 December 1940 as the daughter of Sanskrit scholar Krishnamurthy in Madanapalle, Andhra, Yamini spent most of her childhood in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu. While bowing down in deference to the idol of Nataraja, something confounded her mind about the posture of the idol. This thought returned to her every time she saw the idol and it soon morphed into a love for the dance form. The turning point was when Krishnamurthy enrolled his daughter in the Kalakshetra dance school in Chennai to fulfil her wish.

Under the tutelage of founder Rukmini Devi Arundale, Kancheepuram Ellappa Pillai, Kittappa Pillai and Karaikal Natesa Dhandayudhapani Pillai, Yamini stepped into the world of dance that was engulfed in mysticism. She made her Bharatnatyam debut in 1957 at the Kapaleeswaram temple in Mylapore. Yamini Krishnamurthy's highest honour was the title of Head Dancer of the Tirupati Devasthanam. Tirupati Devasthanam has honoured only two women with this honour. Another one was M.S Subbulakshmi.

One dance performance of dancer Balasaraswati convinced Yamini of the need to go beyond the techniques of Bharatanatyam that she had studied till then and delve deeper into the emotional levels. To reach that crescendo of success, Yamini underwent rigorous training under the discipleship of various gurus.

Yamini’s sylphlike beauty and the impressive description before every dance performance highlighting the divine connection awed the audience, giving them a feel of a worldly spectre. And once, Guru Vedanta Lakshmi Narayana Shastri curtly asked Yamini about her strange decision to opt for Bharatnatyam leaving behind the traditional ‘Kuchipudi’ of Andhra. The impact was sudden and Yamini took a detour back to her roots and learned Kuchipudi under Shastri’s tutelage.

Once the face of Indian dance form, Yamini took over the dance floors in the 60s and 70s and later started a dance school in Delhi in the 90s. Renowned Bharatanatyam dancer Rama Vaidyanathan is a prominent disciple. She was honoured by the country with Padma Shri in 1968, Padma Bhushan in 2001 and Padma Vibhushan in 2016. It is no exaggeration that she recorded in her autobiography; 'I am a dancer, just a dancer. My past, present and future are only for dance'.