Pupul Jayakar Biography 
Pupul Jayakar was an Indian cultural activist and writer from Etawah, Uttar Pradesh. She is best known for her contributions to the revival of traditional and village arts, handlooms and handicrafts in the second half of 20th century. She also organized Indian art festivals across the globe in the 1980s to promote Indian culture and tradition. She had a close relationship with Nehru family. Noted Kathak exponent Aditi Mangaldas is her niece. It was Pupul who advised young Aditi to move from Gujarat to Delhi to cherish her dreams to become a Kathak exponent.
Jayakar was born in 1915 at Etawah. Her father was a senior officer in the Indian Civil Service. She had 5 siblings. As her father worked in different parts of the country Pupul got easily exposed to traditional arts and crafts of different places. That’s how she got drawn towards handlooms and handicrafts and decided to revive them from extinction. She got absorbed to local crafts and traditions. During her childhood she got opportunity to study under Annie Besant at Varanasi. When her father was posted at Allahabad, she was only 15 and it was during this time when she came into contact with Nehru family. Later she held close relationship with three PMs - Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.
To promote Indian handlooms she set up many organizations. National Crafts Museum in 1956, Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) in 1984, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) in 1985 and National Institute of Fashion Technology New Delhi in 1990 are a few among them. For her outstanding contributions to Indian art, she was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1967.
Published: N/A
Updated: July 21, 2014
