Sundari Shridharani had only 13 rupees and 10 annas in her pocket when she realised she could not return to her home in Karachi. She had gone to Prague for a dance performance, when the borders closed during Partition, and she found herself stranded in Bombay.
This displacement is key to the beginning of the Triveni Kala Sangam — one of Delhi’s most celebrated cultural institutions, founded by Sundari. In Mumbai she had begun teaching students dance; inevitably post-Independence, Delhi would be her halt.
Triveni completes 75 years this year. An archival exhibition titled ‘From Two Rooms… to a Landmark: Triveni Turns 75’ is being held in its space till March 15; the exhibition is divided into two sections.
The Shridharani Gallery — named after poet and journalist Krishnalal Shridharani, Sundari’s husband — displays photographs and archival material; another room is dedicated to Sundari’s life and family history connected to Partition and after.
Her history
Sundari was artistically inclined since childhood. She was raised by her grandfather, a reformist scholar and women’s rights advocate. She studied at Delhi’s Lady Irwin College and later at Santiniketan before joining Uday Shankar’s India Cultural Centre in Almora. By 1950, Sundari had started teaching dance to sisters Uma and Rama Sharma. She had rented two rooms above a coffee house in Connaught Place to start a dance school.
After years of fundraising with support from artists including Pandit Ravi Shankar, land was finally allotted in Mandi House. The anniversary exhibition has been curated by artist Rachit Jain, a former Triveni student. “There were so many anecdotes about Triveni… about artists who had their first exhibitions here or other major shows,” Jain said, adding, “But much of it had never been systematically documented.”
A second home
The photographs, paintings, letters and other objects on display show how closely Triveni’s story is linked with the evolution of modern Indian art in the capital. Many artists who later gained national and international recognition were launched by Triveni.
Sculptor Mrinalini Mukherjee held her first solo exhibition here; photographer Raghu Rai also presented his first solo show there, while painter M. F. Husain held major shows at the venue during his career.
The centre has since then become an important meeting place for artists across various disciplines. Theatre director and founder of Delhi-based Ruchika Theatre Group, Feisal Alkazi, too, has staged many plays here. Black-and-white photographs in the exhibition features actors Sohaila Kapoor, Yusuf Mehta, and Vinita Kutty performing He Left Home directed by Alkazi and staged at the amphitheatre.
“All of us as college students used to meet there. It was our adda of choice,” he says, referring to Triveni as a ‘third space’ where people could watch exhibitions, attend performances, or merely sit with tea and snacks.
“You could hear the ghungroos from a Kathak class, see paintings and sculpture, and then watch a play. It’s rare to have all the arts in one place,” adds Alkazi.
Photographer Ram Rahman recalls that his connection with Triveni goes back to the 1950s. His parents moved to Delhi from Kolkata; Bharatanatyam was still largely unknown in north India then. His mother, Indrani Rahman, a Bharatanatyam dancer, became friends with Sundari and helped bring guru Sikkil Ramaswamy Pillai to teach in Delhi. In fact, Rahman’s father, architect Habib Rahman, was the one who introduced Sundari to the American architect Joseph Stein, to design the Triveni building, inaugurated in 1963.
Rahman remembers visiting the construction site as a child when the cultural complex was being built. As the years passed by, Triveni became a second home for him. When he took up photography, two of his early exhibitions were held here, he told TMS.
Triveni’s distinct architecture, its pre-cast concrete jaalis, the grey facade, textured walls, and the green courtyard giving the sturdy, modernist appeal, also awes visitors. The building’s blueprints and designs are also exhibited at the show.
Guru Dutt’s whimsical portraits of Sundari, created with a special play of light and shadow are also part of the exhibits as are her brown, intricately carved rocking chair and a broken cabinet, retrieved from her home in Karachi.
After the death of her husband in 1960, Sundari continued running the institution while raising two young children. Not just Bharatanatyam, Triveni now trains students in Kathak and Odissi as well, along with other performance and visual arts.
Interestingly, the institution continues to follow the traditional guru-shishya style of teaching, where students learn directly from renowned artists.
Today, the galleries, amphitheatre and auditorium of Triveni Kala Sangam are hotspots of Delhi’s cultural circuit. All thanks to Sundari Shridharani, who had the vision of turning two rooms into a remarkable home for the arts.