When Balasaraswati, the doyen of Bharatanatyam, passed away on February 9, 1984, at the age of 66, the world of Indian dance lost not only a veteran dancer but an epoch-maker. Critics and connoisseurs of the dance traditions of India affirmed that there was none like her who had so boldly and unostentatiously kept up the age-old traditions of Bharatanatyam. Reviewers and dance lovers, students and impresarios in the West called her “unparalleled” and bowed to this creative genius in humble obeisance 1. It was she that opened up the infinite possibilities of this art and showed to the public what a creative artist like Balasaraswati could do with it! “Robust, vital, with passionate expressive eyes and a mobile face,” writes a critic who saw her in the early days of her career, “Balasaraswati is fascinating like a fearless fawn and as seductive as a Mathura Mithuna.”2