Roots of the Tradition
Every dancer stands at the end of a line that stretches back centuries. Each lineage below is traced from its source down to the living dancers who carry its lamp today — drawn live from the guru map, so it grows as dancers link to their gurus.
The family that gave Bharatanatyam its margam — traced from the Kaveri delta of the 1700s to gurus teaching worldwide today.
The Source
Before the recital had a name, a family of temple musicians in the Kaveri delta kept the art alive and passed it from father to son — the line that produced the Thanjavur Quartet and the Pandanallur style.
The Direct Disciples
The Next Generation
Sivanandam Pillai
Thanjavur, India
Chinnaiah Pillai
Thanjavur, India
Vadivelu Pillai
Thanjavur, India
G. Vasumathy
Bristol, United Kingdom
Anurupa Arvind
Chinnayya
India
G. Vanitha
Jayalakshmi Satagopan
Ponnaiah Pillai
Tanjore (Thanjavur), India
Ponnayya
India
Prema Satish
Chennai, India
Sangita Balaji
The Next Generation
Mahadeva Nattuvanar
Thanjavur, India
K. Ponniah Pillai (Sangita Kalanidhi)
Thanjavur, India
Jatti Tayamma
Mysore, India
Thanjavur Kandappa Pillai
Madras (Chennai), India
Noorcni Parameswara Bhagavatar
Thiruvananthapuram, India
Mahadeva Bhagavatar
India
Srinivas Hirimagalur
Bristol, United Kingdom
The Next Generation
Pandanallur Meenakshisundaram Pillai
1869 – 1954The great guru who gave the Pandanallur style its name
K. P. Kittappa Pillai
1913 – 1999Grandson and torch-bearer; taught dancers across India and abroad
Kalanidhi Narayanan
Chennai, India
T. Balasaraswati
Chennai, India
K. Venkatalakshmamma
Mysore, India
K. Venkatalakshamma
Mysore, India
Kancheepuram Ellappa Pillai
Chennai, India
Lalitha Srinivasan
Bengaluru, India
Uday Shankar
Kolkata, India
Tanjore Gnyana
Tanjore, India
Mala Shashikanth
Bengaluru, India
K. P. Sivanandam
Chennai, India
The Next Generation
Rukmini Devi Arundale
1904 – 1986Founded Kalakshetra in January 1936
Sudharani Raghupathy
Chennai, India
Ram Gopal
Bangalore, India
Pandanallur Chokkalingam Pillai
Chennai, India
K. P. K. Chandrasekaran
Thanjavur, India
Mrinalini Sarabhai
Ahmedabad, India
Jamuna Krishnan
Delhi, India
K.J. Govindarajan
Delhi, India
Madhusri Sethuraman
Plano, United States
Baroda Guru Kubernath Tanjorkar
Vadodara, India
Priyadarsini Govind
Chennai, India
Kattumannarkoil Muthukumaran
India
The Next Generation
Adyar K Lakshman
Chennai, India
C.V. Chandrasekhar
Chennai, India
Leela Samson
Chennai, India
M.K. Saroja
Chennai, India
Alarmel Valli
Chennai, India
Shanta Dhananjayan
Chennai, India
Yamini Krishnamurthy
Delhi, India
Dhananjayan V P
Chennai, India
Pandanallur Subbaraya Pillai
Chennai, India
Mridula Anand
Hyderabad, India
Sarada Hoffman
Chennai, India
Apoorva Jayaraman
Bengaluru, India
The Next Generation
Ramli Ibrahim
Kulalumpur, Malaysia
 Acc. No.- 139825.JPG)
Gayatri Balagurunathan
Chennai, India
Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair
Lausanne, Switzerland
Rama Vaidyanathan
New Delhi, India
R. Rhadha
Chennai, India
Dr Chandrabhanu
Melbourne, Australia
Mavin Khoo
London, United Kingdom
Rema Srikant
Vadodara, India
Kalyani Sankar
Delhi, India
Aparna Ramaswamy
Minneapolis, United States
Joyce Paul Poursabahian
Seattle, United States
K.P. Kunhiraman
Berkeley, United States
The Next Generation
Founder/Head of Kalyani Kala Mandir
New Delhi, India
Shumita Mahajan
Pune, India
Dr. Anuradha Murali
Columbia, United States
K.P. Yesodha
Chennai, India
Katherine Kunhiraman (née Siebel)
Berkeley, USA
Lalitha Ganapthy
Chennai, India
Ambika Docherty
Melbourne, Australia
Rathika Suresh Mahadeva
Melbourne, Australia
Soumya Rajaram
Boston, United States
Malini Srinivasan
New York City, Switzerland
Mohana Narayan
Bay Area, California, United States
Prithvija Balagopalan
Chennai, India
The Next Generation
Barbara Framm
Marin, United States
Aahana Mohanty
Singapore
Amritha Varshini
Anagha Dussal
India
Ananya B
Avni Sharma
Bhavya Singh
India
Devika Bilimoria
Australia
Dr. Leena Dhole Bhawkar
India
Harpreet Bhuie
India
Ishika Chopra
India
Janaki Sharma
The Next Generation
…And Their Students Today
The living lineage below is drawn directly from the NatyaNetwork guru map and updates as dancers link to their gurus. Dates before 1900 are shown as preserved in family lineage records and are not independently verified. Corrections from the lineage's own families are welcome.