Baba Yogendraji, honoured by President of India with a Padma Sree for his selfless service in propagating Indian arts and culture passed away at Lucknow on Friday morning. He was 98.
Yogendraji, founder of Sanskar Bharati, launched to strengthen and sustain the centuries old Indian forms of art and culture, was engaged in finding out the lacune that retarded their growth and offered measures to revive them. An authority on Lok Sangeeth, Lok Nrithya and tribal art forms, Yogendraji travelled across the length and breadth of India to document and prepare an inventory of the dying art forms in the sub continent.
The influence wielded by him was shared by Prof P G Haridas, president, Tapasya, Kerala’s biggest art and cultural society, which is also an integral part of Sanskar Bharati. “Baba YogendraJi was a pro-active art and cultural icon who could organise mega shows exclusively featuring the Lok Sangeeth and Lok Nrithya forms. He had an umbilical cord relation with all artists,” said Haridas. He said the mega festivals of Indian art and culture organised under the auspices of Sanskar Bharati were the brainchild of Yogendra Ji. “It was Baba Ji who pointed out the uniqueness of the tribal art and dance forms of the country and fought for the recognition of the artists,” said the Professor.
Yogendra Ji who started his career as an activist of the RSS, switched over to the preservation of Lok Natya and Lok Sangeeth art forms. “He wanted us to call on all the artists individually and convince them that they were part and parcel of Indian Society. He also insisted that we should ensure the well being of these artsists ,” said Rajith Kumar, Sanskar Bharati activist from Kerala’s Idukki district.
Kerala holds Yogendra in high esteem as it was at Thodupuzha a three-day art and cultural event by name Chitra Pournami was held in 1998 to celebrate his 75 th birth day. According to Prof Haridas, the style of Yogendraji’s work should be an eye opener to all. “He never built a corporate office for Sanskar Bharati. It was through inter personal communication he built up the infrastructure for promoting our traditional art and cultural forms,” said the professor.