Art historian Kapila Vatsyayan dies aged 91

Kapila Vatsyayan, the doyenne of Indian art forms and founding director of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), breathed her last at her residence in Delhi on Wednesday morning. She was 91.

Vatsyayan, a former member of Parliament and lifetime trustee of the Indian International Centre (IIC), has been described as the ‘grand matriarch’ of cultural research.

A trained dancer in Kathak and Manipuri dance traditions, Vatsyayan made her mark as an art historian and an administrator.

Besides IGNCA, she was also associated with the Sangeet Natak Akademi and Lalit Kala Akademi and was honoured with the Padma Vibhushan in 2011.

Vatsyayan’s tenure at IGNCA had its share of controversies and was forced into retirement as a trustee of the organisation during the Vajpayee government in 2000.

She returned as a member of the IGNCA Trust and chairperson of the executive committee in 2005 after the Congress-led UPA formed government at the Centre.

As chief patron of the Asia Project of the India International Centre, Vatsyayan wielded immense clout as a source of funds for scholars and academics.

“I was pained to hear about the demise of Dr Kapila Vatsyayan. She made immense contributions to various institutions of the Ministry of Culture. My humble tributes to the departed soul,” Culture Minister Prahlad Singh Patel said.

“My heartfelt condolences at the passing away of former MP, Padma Vibhushan Kapila Vatsyayan ji, a leading scholar of Indian classical dance, architecture & art history. May God give strength to her family & friends to bear this loss. May her soul rest in peace,” Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said.