A photograph of Mallika Sarabhai paying dancing in front of her mother Mrinalini Sarabhai’s body as a tribute to her life, has gone viral on Facebook.
Dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai died at the age of 97, at a hospital in Ahmedabad on Thursday after her she contracted an infection.
On Friday, a woman named Geetha Narayan put up a photo of Mrinanlini’s daughter Mallika frozen in a dance move, as she paid homage to her mother. It is unclear where the photo was taken or by whom, but according to news reports, the last rites of the late dancer were to be performed at her family’s farmhouse in Pethapur village in Gandhinagar.
Since it was put up on Facebook a little after 9 am, the image has been shared over 1,000 times. Dressed in a white kurta and blue kameez, Mallika is seen in a dance pose before her mother’s body, as family and friends look on.
Mrinalini was a trained in Bharatanatyam, Mohiyattam and Kathakali. When her mother died, Mallika, who is a dancer herself, had put up a post on Facebook, saying, “My mother Mrinalini has just left for her eternal dance.”
After her mother’s death, she had put up a post criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not offering his condolences over her mother’s death. She said that Mrinalini had done a lot to bring India’s culture to the world and that he had failed to recognise it.
Early on Friday morning, she had said:
“My dear prime minister
You hate my politics and I hate yours.
That has nothing to do with what Mrinalini Sarabhai did to promote the culture of this country to the world over sixty years. She blazed a trailer for our culture in the world.
That her death sees no word from you shows your mentality. How ever much you hate me, as our prime minister it behove you to recognise her contribution. You have not. Shame on you”