1. Pupul Jayakar was an Indian cultural activist and writer, best known for her work on the revival of traditional and village arts, handlooms, and handicrafts in post-independence India.
24 Facts About Pupul Jayakar
1. 2.
Pupul Jayakar was a friend and biographer to both the Nehru-Gandhi family and J Krishnamurti.
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Pupul Jayakar served as cultural adviser to the latter two, confirming her preeminence in cultural matters.
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Pupul Jayakar founded the National Crafts Museum in 1956 and the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage in 1984 to restore and manage monuments and advocate for heritage property conservation.
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Pupul Jayakar was a founder and trustee of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, established in 1985, and, in 1990, founded the National Institute of Fashion Technology in New Delhi.
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Pupul Jayakar was instrumental in conception of the idea of a national school of design after her meeting with Charles and Ray Eames.
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Pupul Jayakar was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1967.
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Pupul Jayakar was born in 1915 at Etawah in the state of United Provinces.
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Pupul Jayakar's father Vinayak Mehta was a liberal intellectual and senior officer in the Indian Civil Service and was one of the first Indians to serve in the Civil Service at a time when most officers were British.
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Pupul Jayakar's mother came from a Gujarati Brahmin family from Surat, where Pupul spent her yearly summer breaks.
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Pupul Jayakar had a brother, Kumaril Mehta, and four sisters, Purnima, Premlata, Amarganga and Nandini Mehta.
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Pupul Jayakar attended Bedford College in London before graduating from the London School of Economics in 1936.
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Pupul Jayakar became politically involved after becoming assistant to Indian National Congress activist Mridula Sarabhai in the Kasturba Trust in 1940.
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Pupul Jayakar was appointed assistant secretary of the women's affairs in the National Planning Committee, then headed by Jawaharlal Nehru.
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Pupul Jayakar established the Weavers' Service Centre, Besant Nagar, in Madras, under the aegis of the Ministry of Textiles.
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Pupul Jayakar became the executive director and later chair-person, of the Handicrafts and Handloom Corporation of India.
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Pupul Jayakar coauthored the catalogue introduction for a Museum of Modern Art exhibition titled "The Textiles and Ornamental Arts of India" in 1955.
18.
Pupul Jayakar was behind the Festivals of India organised in London, Paris, and America lasting several months in the early 1980s and the 'Apna Utsav' during the tenure of Rajiv Gandhi, to whom she was a cultural adviser, and held the rank of Minister of State.
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Pupul Jayakar was active with the Krishnamurti Foundation in India until her death.
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Pupul Jayakar helped in the establishment of the Krishnamurti Foundation in India, the United States, England, and some Latin American countries.
21.
Pupul Jayakar married Manmohan Jayakar, a Pathare Prabhu barrister, in 1937, who died in 1972.
22.
Pupul Jayakar's daughter, Radhika Herzberger, was born in 1938, and, as Director of the Rishi Valley Education Centre, presides over and runs the Rishi Valley School at Rishi Valley, Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh; Sahyadri School in Sahyadri Hills Pune; Rajghat Besant School at Varanasi; The School, KFI in Chennai; The Valley School in Bangalore and other Krishnamurti Foundation of India schools.
23.
Pupul Jayakar died in Mumbai, on 29 March 1997, after a brief illness.
24.
Pupul Jayakar's best known books are her two biographies: J Krishnamurti: A Biography and Indira Gandhi: An Intimate Biography.