https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=R_MuthukannammalR Muthukannammal - Revision history2026-10-28T16:25:48ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=R_Muthukannammal&diff=527629&oldid=prevDavidmam at 17:08, 3 April 20262026-04-03T17:08:03Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Indian dancer}}<br />
'''R Muthukannammal''' (born 1937) is a seventh generation veteran [[Bharatanatyam#Etymology|Sadir]] dancer from the Indian State of [[Tamil Nadu]]. She is the only surviving person among the 32 [[Devadasi]]s who served the deity at the [[Viralimalai Murugan temple]] and she is the last woman to have the ceremony ''pottukkattutal'' of dedicating oneself to God performed at the Viralimalai temple.<ref name="Hindu">{{cite news |title=The story of a woman whose lifeblood is Sathir |url=https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/dance/the-sound-of-sathir/article23302589.ece |website=The Hindu |date=20 March 2018 |access-date=26 March 2022 |last1=Kannadasan |first1=Akila }}</ref> In the year 2022, Govt of India honoured Muthukannammal by conferring the [[Padma Shri]] award for her contributions in the field of art.<ref name="PadmaShri2022"/> The dance form Sadir, variously called as Sadiraattam or Parathaiyar Aattam or Thevarattam, is a classical Indian dance from which was reinvented, modified and rechristened as [[Bharatanatyam]] through the efforts of [[E. Krishna Iyer|E Krishna Iyer]] in 1932. However, Muthukannammal has chosen to call her art form Sadir, making her the only Sadir exponent today.<ref name="Minute"/><br />
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==Early life and education==<br />
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Muthukannammal was born in 1937 in [[Viralimalai]], 28&nbsp;km from [[Trichy]] into a hereditary Isai [[Vellalar]] family of dancers and musicians. She is the daughter of Ramachandra Nattuvanaar (1890-1988) who himself was a much respected dancer, a competent dance teacher and the most popular and respected nattuvanar in Viralimalai.<ref name="Soneji">{{cite book |last1=Davesh Soneji |title=Unfinished Gestures: Devadasiss, Memory, and Modernity in South India |date=2012 |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |isbn=978-0-226-76809-0 |page=174}}</ref> Since her family is a dancers' family, she had started dancing from the time she learned to walk. At the age of seven, she had ''pottukkattutal'' performed at [[Viralimalai Murugan temple]] and she had her ''arangetram'' (début on-stage performance). Later she was trained extensively in dancing by her father and grandmother.<br />
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Her family was closely associated with temple dance practices in the Viralimalai Murugan temple and other temples, and also with the [[Pudukkottai]] Palace. Her family was under the patronage of Pudukkottai kings. King [[Rajagopala Tondaiman]], the ninth and last ruler of the princely state of [[Pudukkottai]], had gifted agricultural lands to her family for their temple services. However, due to the strong ant-Devadasi movement then raging in [[Tamil Nadu]], especially in Viralimalai, there was a steep decline in interest among the general public and temple administrators in the ritualistic traditional performances of dance and music by Muthukannammal and members of her family. This resulted in the dwindling of a regular income and Muthukannammal and her family had go through severe hardships. Perhaps this forced her to embark on a new life with performances at weddings and other social functions.<ref name="Soneji"/><br />
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==Recognition: Padma Shri==<br />
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*In the year 2022, Govt of India conferred the [[Padma Shri]] award, the third highest award in the Padma series of awards, on R Muthukannammal for her distinguished service in the field of art.<ref name="PadmaShri2022">{{cite web |title=Padma Awards 2022 |url=https://www.padmaawards.gov.in/padmaawardees2022.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125143803/https://www.padmaawards.gov.in/padmaawardees2022.pdf |archive-date=2022-01-25 |url-status=live|website=Padma Awards |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt of India |access-date=11 February 2022}}</ref> The award is in recognition of her service as a "Veteran 7th generation [[Bharatanatyam#Etymology|Sadir]] dancer from [[Viralimalai]], a custodian of the early tradition of [[Bharatanatyam]]."<ref name="PadmaShri2022Images">{{cite web |title=Padma Awards 2022 |url=https://www.padmaawards.gov.in/AwardeeTickets2022.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220129172910/https://www.padmaawards.gov.in/AwardeeTickets2022.aspx |archive-date=2022-01-29 |url-status=live|website=Padma Awards |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt of India |access-date=11 February 2022}}</ref><br />
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==Other recognitions==<br />
*"DakshinaChitra Virudhu", an annual award instituted by The Madras Craft Foundation and The Friends of DakshinaChitra to honour folk performing artists (2018)<ref name="Hindu"/><br />
*G Chandrasekharan, former principal of [[Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai]], made a sculpture of Muthukannamal in clay at his art school for the disabled in [[Tirunelveli]] in 2017.<ref name="TOI">{{cite news |title=Last of Trichy Sadhirs, Muthukannamal, to be feted |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/last-of-trichy-sadhirs-muthukannamal-to-be-feted/articleshow/63212769.cms |website=The Times of India |date=8 March 2018 |access-date=26 March 2022}}</ref><br />
*In the year 2019, [[Films Division of India]] released the biopic entitled "Devaradiyar in Sadhir: The Life and Art of Muthukannammal. Directed by S.Shanmuganathan"<ref name="Minute">{{cite web |last1=Nrithya Pillai |title=A Padma Shri for 84-yr-old dancer Muthukannammal: Long overdue but welcome |url=https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/padma-shri-84-yr-old-dancer-muthukannammal-long-overdue-welcome-160278 |website=The News Minute |date=26 January 2022 |access-date=26 March 2022}}</ref><br />
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==See also==<br />
*[[List of Padma Shri award recipients (2020–2029)#Padma Shri Award recipients in the year 2022|Padma Shri Award recipients in the year 2022]]<br />
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==References==<br />
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{{reflist}}<br />
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==Additional reading==<br />
*Chapter 4 titled "Historical Traces and Unfinished Subjectivity: Remembering Devadasi Dance at Viralimalai" in the book ''Unfinished Gestures: Devadasis, Memory, and Modernity in South India'' by Davesh Soneji published by The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, in 2012 (pages 161-188).<br />
*{{cite web |last1=Margot Cohen |title=Pride and prejudice: Sadir has stirred scholarly debate in India and abroad, can the dance form finally get its mojo back? |url=https://www.firstpost.com/living/pride-and-prejudice-sadir-has-stirred-scholarly-debate-in-india-and-abroad-can-the-dance-form-finally-get-its-mojo-back-4948271.html |website=The Firstpost |date=13 August 2018 |access-date=28 March 2022}}<br />
*{{cite journal |last1=R Ilangovan |title=Seeing beyond Sadir |journal=Frontline |date=27 December 2013 |url=https://frontline.thehindu.com/social-issues/seeing-beyond-sadir/article5444032.ece |access-date=28 March 2022}}<br />
*{{cite web |title=From Sadir Attam to Bharatanatyam |url=https://indianculture.gov.in/stories/sadir-attam-bharatanatyam |website=Indian Culture |publisher=Govt of India |access-date=28 March 2022}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
*{{YouTube|id=5pez6WzhSXQ| Devaradiyaar in Sadir - The Life and Art of Muthukannammal a biopic by [[Films Division of India]]}} Directed by S.Shanmuganathan<br />
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{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Art}}<br />
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[[Category:Indian female classical dancers]]<br />
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts]]<br />
[[Category:1937 births]]<br />
[[Category:Living people]]<br />
[[Category:Indian courtesans]]<br />
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{{morecat|date=May 2024}}</div>Davidmam