Kapila Vatsyayan was the dynasty's premier cultural warrior, organising exhibitions and setting up institutes. A new biography chronicles the story of the contentious Nehru-Gandhi legacy.

Jawaharlal Nehru asked her to take troupes of artists to all parts of the world, in what he called "splash diplomacy" under the aegis of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan gave her three weeks to turn Teen Murti House into the Nehru Memorial Museum. The always correct Maulana Abul Kalam Azad asked her to write 'akademi' 100 times to get the spelling right. Indira Gandhi asked her to prepare an exhibition of Chola bronzes at the National Museum to coincide with the Non-Aligned Movement Conference in Delhi in 1983, for which she had to request then defence minister R. Venkataraman to lend her an Air Force plane so she could borrow the idols from various temples-but undercover to avoid an uproar.

Kapila Vatsyayan has been many things: dancer, scholar, adviser to various governments on education and culture, seeker of gurus. Never very well liked by the bureaucracy which was often supposed to report to her, the 86-year-old, mentored by greats such as Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay and Rukmini Devi Arundale, was entrusted by generations of Nehru-Gandhis with their showpieces.

The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) should have been her crowning glory. Given to her by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1985, who as a young man would get her and Dr Grace Morley coffee when they were working on Teen Murti, the centre has never quite taken off, beset as it has always been by politics-every non-Congress government, beginning with V.P. Singh's, has tried to displace her and reconstitute the board. The centre's corpus fund of Rs 50 crore has also been the target of questioning.

Poorly written though her biography is, Kapila Vatsyayan: Afloat a Lotus Leaf: A Cognitive Biography gives an insight into the education and culture policy of Congress-led governments, something under scrutiny today with the BJP government at the Centre determined to "liberate" these institutions from "left wing" control. Vatsyayan speaks of the constant watch she was subjected to by the IAS lobby, who warned her about doing morning puja as it could be misconstrued. It also highlights the progressive decline of the autonomy of once-great institutions because of political interference.

Compare it with Maulana Azad's insightful and respectful handling. At one point when Vatsyayan says she will call for the director general of ASI, he admonishes her: "Aap Hindustan ki tehzeeb ke raja ke paas jayengi, unko nahin bulayengi. Thanda paani pijiye aur left-right kijiye (You will personally visit him, not call him. Take it easy.)"

As education minister, he would make sure he had domain experts as secretaries, whether it was educationists Dr K.G. Saiyidain and Humayun Kabir, or scientists Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar and G.K. Chandiramani. At one point, Maulana tells Nehru who is worried about the IAS backlash: "Jawaharlal, tum bhi kabhi kabhi namaqool baat karte ho. Yet to taleem ka mamla hai. Yahan koi padha likha shakhs hona chahiye. (You need educated, trained people here.)"

In this excerpt from Afloat a Lotus Leaf, writer Jyoti Sabharwal narrates how the IGNCA came to be, which highlights the good and the bad-the Gandhi vision for autonomous cultural institutions as well as the tendency to treat them like personal fiefs. As the book says: the major lesson Vatsyayan learnt from the IGNCA being set up as an autonomous trust, and the government's decision to take it over after 15 years, is that perhaps institutes should not be named after political leaders. "Each time there was a change in political power, the attacks in Parliament were not only on the person in whose name the institution was established but also on Rajiv Gandhi."
Sounds familiar?

Kapila sought an appointment with Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. He was not only supportive but extremely cordial. She said, "I'm honoured. But please tell me, what would the institution be doing?" he said, "Whatever you think. You knew mummy and her concerns in the field of the arts. Papu ka bhi aap ne kiya tha, yeh kaam bhi aap hi kareingi. (You set up my grandfather's museum, you will do this too)." Her eyes were moist as she remembered how Rajiv Gandhi would bring in coffee at midnight, when Kapila was working day and night with Dr Grace Morley at Teen Murti House. She was touched beyond words...

... She continued to have these repartees with Rajiv Gandhi, and asked him, "Will you please tell me ki kaun se ped ke neeche ye sanstha kayam hogi (under which tree will this institute be set up?)." He said, "Kapilaji, aap sochiye, dhundiye, kahan hogi (You think and explore where it would be)."

She visited the archives of CPWD, sifted through Sir Edwin Lutyens' plans, and refreshed her memory. It came to light that the building of the Archaeological Survey of India, which was to come up opposite the National Museum, had yet not happened. Instead, there was an office of the Ministry of External Affairs.

Balancing these two buildings, on the other side of Rajpath, was to be the National Archives, already built. And facing it was to be a national cultural centre. Suddenly, she recalled that car ride with Pandit Nehru driving down the Queensway, that is, Janpath.

He had said endearingly, "Kapila, yahan par ek national theatre hoga. Lutyens ne socha tha. Tum banaogi na? (There would be a national theatre here. Lutyens had thought about it. Will you set it up?)." This was 21 acres of the most prestigious real estate in New Delhi, facing the National Archives on one side and the National Museum across Rajpath!

... No doubt, her trustees were backing her, but the operative person was she, a single person. And now, it was time to think of the structure of the institution, and whether it would be a registered society or a Trust, besides its funding.... A unanimous decision was taken to set up the IGNCA Trust... She reveals that it was impressed upon the Cabinet Secretariat that the funding pattern would not be through annual grants, but an endowment of a corpus fund. The next step was to convince them that this plot should be allotted to the IGNCA purely on lease.

... Meanwhile, her interaction with Rajiv Gandhi continued, and in one such conversation he asked her, "So, what would the Centre be about?"
"I would not lay seeds for the annual flowering plants, or have annual flower shows," she responded in a jocular vein.
"Well, annual flower shows are not bad. But if you won't have these flower shows, what would the Art Centre plant?" he laughed.

"The Centre would plant trees, which throw roots to the ground, grow slowly, steadily and touch the skies, both physically as also in its intellectual programme. Nor would I promote the import and export of cultural bouquets," she said on a more sombre note. "But that means a lot of work on the soil and nothing to show for a long time," he reacted. "Yes, it means a whole lot of work without its being noticed. This is how big trees grow and forests emerge."

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