https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Shanta_GandhiShanta Gandhi - Revision history2026-10-29T08:01:01ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shanta_Gandhi&diff=534577&oldid=prevSusannahParish: Created new data!2026-04-23T10:21:15Z<p>Created new data!</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Indian dancer and theatre director}}<br />
{{cleanup reorganize|date=March 2019}}<br />
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}}<br />
{{Infobox person<br />
| name = Shanta Gandhi<br />
| image = <br />
| alt = <br />
| caption = <br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1917|12|20}}<br />
| birth_place = [[Nashik]]<br />
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2002|05|06|1917|12|20}} <br />
| death_place = [[Mumbai]] <br />
| other_names = <br />
| known_for = ''Jasma Odan'' (play)<br />
| occupation = Dancer, theatre director, playwright<br />
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Victor Kiernan]]|1938|1946|end=div}}<br />
| relatives = [[Dina Pathak]] (sister)<br />
}}<br />
<br />
'''Shanta Kalidas Gandhi''' (20 December 1917 – 6 May 2002) was an Indian theatre director, dancer and playwright who was closely associated with [[Indian People's Theatre Association|IPTA]], the cultural wing of the [[Communist Party of India]]. She studied with [[Indira Gandhi]] at a residential school in the early 1930s, and remained close to the prime minister in later life. She received many government awards and sinecures under the [[Indira Gandhi]] administration, including the [[Padma Shri]] (1984) and being made chairperson of the [[National School of Drama]] (1982–84).<br />
<br />
She was the sister of actress [[Dina Pathak]] (née Gandhi) and Tarla Gandhi, also a stage performer.<br />
<br />
==Background==<br />
She was a founder-member of the central ballet troupe of the [[Indian People's Theatre Association]] (IPTA), and toured the country widely through the 1950s. As a playwright she is remembered as an early pioneer in reviving ancient Indian drama especially [[Sanskrit drama]] and folk theatre to modern [[Indian theatre]] and amongst her most noted plays are ''Razia Sultan''<ref name=ou/> and ''[[Jasma Odan]]'' based on a Gujarati legend on the practice of [[suttee]], her own production of the play in Gujarati [[Bhavai]] style, became a landmark in contemporary [[Indian theatre]],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.hindu.com/2002/05/10/stories/2002051006670400.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106231914/http://www.hindu.com/2002/05/10/stories/2002051006670400.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=6 November 2012|title=Shanta Gandhi dead |date=10 May 2002|work=[[The Hindu]]}}</ref> and along with 'Maina Gurjari' by her sister [[Deena Gandhi]] (later [[Dina Pathak|Pathak]]), it is one of the most popular [[Bhavai]]s today.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060611/spectrum/main2.htm|title=From Gujarat with grace |date=11 June 2006|work=[[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Tribune]]}}</ref><br />
<br />
She was a founder-member of ''Avehi'', an education resource centre established in 1981, and also remained Chairperson of [[National School of Drama]], 1982–1984.<ref>[http://www.nsd.gov.in/nsd_pchairperson.htm NSD chairperson] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206232923/http://nsd.gov.in/nsd_pchairperson.htm |date=6 December 2010 }} [[National School of Drama]] website.</ref> She was awarded the [[Padma Shri]] in 1984 by [[Government of India]] and the 2001 [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]] in [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award#Direction|Direction]], given by [[Sangeet Natak Akademi]], India's National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sangeetnatak.org/sna/awardeeslist.htm|title=SNA: List of Akademi Awardees|publisher=[[Sangeet Natak Akademi]] Official website|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217185616/http://www.sangeetnatak.org/sna/awardeeslist.htm|archive-date=17 February 2012|df=dmy-all}}</ref><br />
<br />
==Early life and education==<br />
She joined Pupil's Own School, an experimental residential school in [[Pune]] in 1932, where she became friends with classmate [[Indira Nehru]].<ref>[[#Ka|Frank, p. 76]]</ref> She later moved to Bombay, when her engineer father found her becoming too involved in the left-wing student movement in the 1930s and sent her to England to study medicine.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}} In London she stayed at a Fairfax Road boarding house across the hallway from Indira. [[Feroze Gandhi]] lived nearby, and the three of them would go out on the town together.<ref>[[#Ka|Frank, p. 118]]</ref> When Indira and Feroze secretly became engaged in 1936, Shanta was the only other person to know about it.<ref>[[#Ka|Frank, p. 130]]</ref> Soon she started frequenting [[India House]], meeting up with [[Krishna Menon]] and his young 'Free India' associates, and even joined a dance troupe to raise funds for the [[Spanish Civil War]]. But before long her father called her back, as the [[World War II]] in Europe was starting, thus ending a possible medical career.<br />
<br />
==Career==<br />
She joined [[Uday Shankar]]'s 'Uday Shankar India Cultural Centre', at Simtola, 3&nbsp;km from [[Almora]], in Uttarakhand, and studied [[Bharata Muni]]'s ''[[Natyasastra]]'' from one of the teachers. She stayed there till it closed down in 1942.<ref>[[#Si|Sinha, p. 145-6]]</ref> Soon after, she became a full-time member of the Little Ballet Troupe, the dance wing of the [[Indian People's Theatre Association]] in Bombay (now Mumbai), here along with her young sisters [[Dina Pathak]] ''née'' Gandhi (1922–2002) and Tarla Gandhi. The ballet troupe created ''India, Immortal'', ''Man and Machine'' and the numerous legendary ballets that travelled India in 1950s with Ravi Shankar, Shanti Bardhan and many other performers and artists who later became famous on their own in modern Indian dance theatre and music. The sisters were also involved several years in the revival of [[Gujarati theatre]] in Bombay.<ref name=exp>[http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=32202 Veteran actress Dina Pathak passes away] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040712135350/http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=32202 |date=12 July 2004 }} ''[[Indian Express]]'', 12 October 2002.</ref><br />
<br />
In 1952, she started working with a group of children in the village Nikora, on the banks of the [[Narmada River]], in [[South Gujarat]] with an informal curriculum. Later, an experimental school attached to the B.M. Institute of Child Psychology and Development, [[Ahmedabad]], adopted this format and in the 1970s at the Bal Bhavan, Delhi took it as well, eventual Avehi was formed in 1981 and in 1990 when AVEHI took up the programme, and named it ABACUS with Shanta Gandhi as Director.<ref>[http://www.avehiabacus.org/about.html About us] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100728003515/http://www.avehiabacus.org/about.html |date=28 July 2010 }} Avehi-Abacus.</ref><br />
<br />
In 1958, Shanta Gandhi was called to Delhi as Asian Theatre Institute was being set up, she joined a Professor of Ancient Indian Drama, in the following year when it merged with the [[National School of Drama]], she continued teaching and in the coming years revived ancient Indian plays starting with [[Sanskrit drama]] masters, [[Kalidasa]], [[Bhasa]], [[Vishakhadatta]] and [[Bhavabhuti]]. She was first to revive 4th century BC, Sanskrit playwright, [[Bhasa]]'s through her productions of ''[[Madhyamavyayoga]]'' (1966) (The Middle One) and ''[[Urubhanga]]'' (The Broken Thigh), a decade before [[Kavalam Narayana Panicker|Pannikar]] and [[Ratan Thiyam]] began working with them.<ref name=dh/> She later directed [[Vishakhadatta]]'s ''[[Mudrarakshasa]]'', Virkam Varman's ''[[Bhagavadajjukam]]'' (1967) all in Hindi.<ref name=dh>[[#Da|Dharwadker, p. 167]]</ref> In 1967, she wrote ''Jasma Odan'' in [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]] based on a folk tale, subsequently she translated it in Malavi Hindi with Dr. Shyam Parmar, the result was her most noted production of the [[Bhavai]]-based musical ''Jasma Odhan'' in 1968, with [[National School of Drama#Repertory Company|NSD Repertory Company]] featuring actors like [[Manohar Singh]] and [[Uttara Baokar]]. She also did the design for the play, and it resurrected the [[Bhavai]] folk theatre from Gujarat. Jasma Odhan remains an integral part of Bhavai repertoire to date<ref>[[#Su|Subramanyam, p. 24]]</ref> and ran successfully in cities like Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Delhi for many years<ref>[[#Br|Brandon, p. 83]]</ref> and was also performed in London, Poland and GDR.<ref>[http://www.education.nic.in/cd50years/12/8I/AW/8IAW0K02.htm National School of Drama, New Delhi: Fifty years] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417032451/http://education.nic.in/cd50years/12/8I/AW/8IAW0K02.htm |date=17 April 2009 }} education.nic.in.</ref> It was later revived by [[Nadira Babbar]]'s group Ek jute, which is now performing it for several years now.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bombay-times/Stagecraft/articleshow/68292.cms|title=Stagecraft |date=10 July 2003|work=The Times of India}}</ref> She also wrote historical play, ''Razia Sultan'' which was quite popular<ref name=ou>{{cite web|url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?202714|title=Profile: "I Was Recognised For My Genius"|date=18 December 1996|publisher=The Outlook}}</ref> and used [[Nautanki]] folk theatre style from [[Uttar Pradesh]] choreographing her production, ''Amar Singh Rathor'', which she also wrote. She revived interest in [[Jaishankar Prasad]]'s plays, which though appreciated for literary content were deemed un-stagable by scholars, by successfully staging his 1928 historical play ''Skanda Gupta'', with little changes to the original script.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/theatre/article40398.ece|title=Re-discovering Dhruvaswamini|date=29 October 2009|work=The Hindu}}</ref> She remained its Chairperson, 1982–1984. She also remained Director, Bal Bhavan, Delhi and National Children's Museum.<br />
<br />
==Literary career==<br />
Apart from plays, she wrote a short story collection ''Ugata Chhod'' (1951) and a novel ''Avinash'' (1952) in Gujarati. Her ''Gujaratan ne Pagale Pagale'' (1948) includes sketches of ancient and modern women.<ref name=":20GW">{{Cite book|title=વીસમી સદીનું ગુજરાતી નારીલેખન|publisher=[[Sahitya Akademi]]|year=2005|isbn=8126020350|editor-last=Chaudhari|editor-first=Raghuveer|editor-link=Raghuveer Chaudhari|edition=1st|location=New Delhi|pages=353|language=gu|trans-title=20 Century Women's Writings in Gujarati|chapter=લેખિકા-પરિચય|trans-chapter=Introduction of Women Writers|oclc=70200087|editor-last2=Dalal|editor-first2=Anila|editor-link2=Anila Dalal}}</ref><br />
<br />
==Personal life==<br />
She was married to Marxist historian [[Victor Kiernan]] in 1938 in Bombay (now Mumbai), but the couple divorced in 1946 before Kiernan left India.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/victor-kiernan-marxist-historian-writer-and-linguist-who-challenged-the-tenets-of-imperialism-1627101.html|title=Victor Kiernan: Marxist historian, writer and linguist ..|date=20 February 2009|work=The Independent}}</ref><br />
<br />
==Further reading==<br />
* {{cite book|last= Baumer|first=Rachel Van M.|author2=James R. Brandon|title=Sanskrit drama in performance|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ|year=1993|volume=2|chapter=A Sanskrit Play in Performance: The Vision of Vasavadatta, by Shanta Gandhi|isbn=81-208-0772-3|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ix-RShGgZUAC&q=Shanta+Gandhi&pg=PA110|pages=110–140}}<br />
<br />
==Works==<br />
* ''Ekalavya''. Publisher Bhartiya Sahakari Prakashan Society, 1964.<br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
* [[List of Gujarati-language writers]]<br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
* {{cite book|last=Brandon|first=James R. |author2=Martin Banham |title=The Cambridge guide to Asian theatre|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1997|isbn=0-521-58822-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ttnH5W9qoBAC&q=Shanta+Gandhi&pg=PA83|ref=Br}}<br />
* {{cite book|last=Subramanyam|first=Lakshmi |title=Muffled voices: women in modern Indian theatre|publisher=Har-Anand Publications|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TigigoI5jl4C&q=Shanta+Gandhi&pg=PA25 |year=2002|isbn=81-241-0870-6|ref=Su}}<br />
* {{cite book|last=Frank|first=Katherine |title=Indira: the life of Indira Nehru Gandhi|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|year=2002|isbn=0-395-73097-X|url=https://archive.org/details/indiralifeofindi00fran|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/indiralifeofindi00fran/page/118 118]|quote=Shanta Gandhi.|ref=Ka}}<br />
* {{cite book|last=Sinha|first=Biswajit |title=Folk theatre, Volume 1 Volume 6 of Encyclopaedia of Indian theatre|publisher=Raj Publications|year=2004|isbn=81-86208-35-6|ref=Si}}<br />
* {{cite book|last=Dharwadker|first=Aparna Bhargava |title=Theatres of independence: drama, theory, and urban performance in India since 1947|publisher=University of Iowa Press|year=2005|isbn=0-87745-961-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mLQaz-12Eo8C&q=Shanta+Gandhi&pg=PA314|ref=Da}}<br />
<br />
==External links==<br />
* [http://www.india-seminar.com/2005/549/549%20in%20memoriam.htm The vanishing Indian (Memoriam)] ''Indian Seminar''<br />
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100701191637/http://www.ekjute.com/jasma.html Jasma Odhan play]<br />
<br />
{{Authority control}}<br />
<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gandhi, Shanta}}<br />
[[Category:Indian theatre directors]]<br />
[[Category:Indian women dramatists and playwrights]]<br />
[[Category:1917 births]]<br />
[[Category:2002 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:National School of Drama alumni]]<br />
[[Category:National School of Drama]]<br />
[[Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]]<br />
[[Category:Indian drama teachers]]<br />
[[Category:Indian female dancers]]<br />
[[Category:Hindi theatre]]<br />
[[Category:Hindi dramatists and playwrights]]<br />
[[Category:Gujarati theatre]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights]]<br />
[[Category:Dancers from Gujarat]]<br />
[[Category:Indian women theatre directors]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian dancers]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian businesspeople]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian businesswomen]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian women artists]]<br />
[[Category:Women writers from Gujarat]]<br />
[[Category:Dramatists and playwrights from Gujarat]]<br />
[[Category:Gujarati-language Indian writers]]</div>SusannahParish