page_title: Indrani Rahman
section_title: Background and family
hierarchical_section_title: Indrani Rahman / Background and family
caption_attribution_description: English: XPDEAM/April.52,A57hA large number of spectators assembled at the Brabourne Stadium in Bombay, in the first week of April, 1952 to witness an impressive and colourful Beauty Parade when “Miss India” was selected by a panel of six judges. Mrs. Indrani Rehman of Calcutta, was adjudged the most beautiful in India’s first Beauty Contest. She was crowned “Miss India” amidst the cheerings of vast crowds.Photo shows all the participants of the Beauty Contest. “Miss India” – Mrs. Indrani Rehman appears third from left and the runner-up Miss Suryakumari of Madras is seen sixth from left.
context_page_description: Indrani Rahman was an Indian classical dancer, of Bharata Natyam, Kuchipudi, Kathakali and Odissi, which she popularised in the west, and later settled in New York in 1976.
  In 1952, she won the Miss India pageant. Later, she joined her mother Ragini Devi's company. She popularised the Indian classical dance form, Odissi during her international tours. Indrani had received the Padma Shri in 1969 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in the performing arts and also the Taraknath Das Award.
context_section_description: Indrani Rahman was born in Chennai (then Madras), the daughter of Ramalal Balram Bajpai (1880–1962), sometime president of the Indo-American League, by his wife Ragini Devi (nee Esther Luella Sherman). Her father, Ramalal Bajpai, was of north Indian background, a chemist who went to the USA for higher education. Here he met and married Esther Luella Sherman, an American by birth. Born in Petoskey, Michigan in 1893, (died 1982), Esther embraced Hinduism upon her wedding and took the name 'Ragini Devi.'
  The couple moved to India in the 1920s. Ramalal then took a job as Assistant Editor of Young India, the magazine founded by Lala Lajpat Rai. After Independence, he became the Consul General of India at New York, and president of the Indo-American League. Meanwhile, Ragini became a passionate proponent of Indian classical dance and devoted her life to their revival and nurture. This happened after a fateful meeting with the great rajadasi, (royal courtesan) Jetti Tayamma of Mysore, from whom she started learning Bharata Natyam. She then honed her dancing talents under the tutelage of Gauri Amma, a courtesan of Chennai. Ragini then became a celebrated dancer herself, and was among the most feted performers of the 1930s. Ragini also championed the revival of Kathakali during the same period.
  Indrani was born in Chennai to this couple and grew up in a mixed-race household. She was brought up to be uninhibited and independent by her American mother, who encouraged her to participate in beauty pageants. As one of very few participants from across the country who could be persuaded to contest the pageant, Indrani was crowned 'Miss India' in the year 1952.
caption: Indrani Rehman (third from left) and the runner-up Miss Suryakumari (sixth from left) with Miss India 1952 participants
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