In memoriam - Krishna Kumar

What struck me most about Krishna Kumar was his intensity: in dance, as singer in his band Temple Rock, and as a teacher of dance and Carnatic music. Many were the occasions where he shared his gifts with Auroville, as dancer – always together with his wife Gita, “his Goddess”, as he used to say – or as a choreographer, enthusing and pushing all who were on stage to go beyond what they thought they were able to do. Many Auroville residents will remember his two hour “Tale of the Kaluveli Siddhar”, performed at Bharat Nivas and at the Irumbai temple, where he put to music and sang the words of local bard Murugesan. He’d choreographed the dramatic episodes with Gita, while his students – many from Auroville – performed, on one occasion with his daughter Harini in the lead role of the beautiful Valli, the dancing girl seducing the impassive yogi played by Johnny.

Intensity was also the hallmark of his performances of Temple Rock, a band of musicians from Auroville and Pondicherry, which became so well-known that, to his great amusement, he was regularly recognized while shopping in Pondicherry. And then there were his private music classes where he taught the philosophy, intonation and rhythms of the Carnatic idiom, tirelessly repeating the correct inflection till the student finally got it. A beaming smile would be the reward.

Krishna came from a highly artistic South Indian family. He had trained at Kalashetra, and was “by pure accident,” he said – present at the inauguration of Auroville on February 28, 1968. In the seventies he went to New Delhi to teach Bharata Natyam dance. One of his foreign students, Gita, became his wife and together they came to live at a beach near Auroville. Later they spent many years in Germany, travelling all over the country to teach and give dance and music performances. They finally moved back to India, to their home at the beach, sharing with Auroville their love and passion for Bharata Natyam and Carnatic music.

Last year the couple moved to the New Creation community in Auroville with the intention to join, after an initial period of being ‘Friends of Auroville.’ The move was welcomed by their many friends and students, and even more by the children of New Creation who suddenly had two top-quality teachers of dance and music in their midst. If the children enjoyed it, they did too. “He loved it!” says Gita. Together, they started preparing a performance with the children for the closing ceremony of Auroville’s 50th anniversary, in February 2019.

One week after celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary, Krishna Kumar came down with a severe bout of asthma. The morning before he left his body he told his Goddess that he had dreamt that The Mother had called him to sing for Her. The call must have been strong: he left his body that same evening, on December 14, at the age of 68.

Krishna Kumar’s remains were cremated at the Auroville Burial and Cremation Grounds on December 17th.