Imasi Foundation was invited to represent Savitadidi N. Mehta’s lifelong association with Manipur
TFM Desk
The Dr. Savitadidi N. Mehta Museum and the affiliated Vishwa Gurjari Library were opened to the public by her brother Mahendra Mehta on Friday, December 9, 2022 in Porbandar, in coastal Gujarat. Also in attendance at the opening were Chief Guest Pujya Bhaishri Rameshbhai Oza, eminent folk literature artist Bhikudan Gadhavi, and Priti Patel, noted ManipurI dancer.
L. Somi Roy and Satyajit Aribam, chairman and advisory council member respectively of Imasi: The Maharaj Kumari Binodini Devi Foundation represented Manipur in the recognition and celebration of Dr. Mehta’s contribution to the dissemination and study of Manipuri Dance, said a press note issued by Imasi Foundation.
The museum houses Dr. Savitaben Mehta’s collection of books, films, and costumery related to ManipurI Dance. Dr. Mehta studied with the greatest dance gurus of Manipur like Oja Amudon Sharma and Oja Rasbehari Sharma. She was conferred the titles of “Meitei Jagoi Hanjabi” by Maharaja Bodhchandra and “Dwitiya Usha” by Dowager Maharani Dhanamanjuri. L. Somi Roy recalled that his mother MK Binodini Devi used to say Savitaben Mehta was “the most scholarly and intellectually gifted of all the dancers who came study in Manipur”.
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In memory of the friendship of MK Binodini Devi and Dr. Savitaben Mehta, Imasi Foundation presented Mahendra Mehta, chairman of the museum, with a copy of Penguin’s special 35th anniversary collectors edition of “The Princess and the Political Agent”, his translation of MK Binodini Devi’s historical novel “Boro Saheb Ongbi Sanatombi”. Imasi Foundation also presented to Jay Mehta of the Mehta Group a copy of Binodini’s “The Maharaja’s Household” (orig. “Churachand Maharajgi Imung”) and “MK Binodini Devi”, Sahitya Akademi’s publication of the literary biography by L. Somi Roy.
In return museum trustee Juhi Chawla Mehta gifted Imasi Foundation’s Roy and Sharma with Dr. Mehta’s tome titled “Manipuri Nata Sankirtana”.
Both artistic and scholarly aspects of Dr. Mehta are on display in the museum and its adjoining library, both housed in the Museum and Library Complex at Gurukul Tapobhoomi in Porbandar. For more information, please contact Suresh Kothari skothari@mehtagroup.