E. Krishna Iyer is associated with the revival of which classical dance?

Explanation

• Krishna Iyer (1897-1968) was a lawyer, freedom fighter, actor and art critic from Tamil Nadu, who played a key role in reviving Bharatanatyam in the 1920s and 1930s, at a time when the dance, then called Sadir, was in decline and under attack.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Sadir was performed by devadasis, women dedicated to the service of temples. A strong campaign against the devadasi system led many people to look down upon the dance itself, and there was a real danger that the art would disappear. E. Krishna Iyer believed that the dance was a precious part of India's cultural heritage and should be saved, even as the social system around it changed. He learnt the dance himself and performed it in female costume to show that it was a respectable art. He was one of the founders of the Madras Music Academy (founded in 1928), and he used the Academy to organise performances of Sadir by traditional dancers, including Balasaraswati, and to argue for its preservation. He is credited with promoting the name "Bharatanatyam" for the dance, which linked it with the Natyashastra of Bharata Muni and gave it a new identity. His work, along with that of Rukmini Devi Arundale, who founded Kalakshetra in 1936, helped Bharatanatyam become one of the most popular classical dances of India. He received the Padma Shri (1957).

Why not the other options?

• ✗Kathakali was revived by the poet Vallathol Narayana Menon through the Kerala Kalamandalam.
• ✗Kathak is linked with gurus such as Shambhu Maharaj and Birju Maharaj.
• ✗Manipuri is linked with gurus such as Bipin Singh and with Rabindranath Tagore's work at Santiniketan.