Renowned Sattriya exponent Pushpa Bhuyan passed away at her Vasant Vihar residence in the Capital recently. She hailed from Jorhat in Assam. At a young age she was sent to Chennai to Kalakshetra to study Bharatanatyam. Later on she was sent to Baroda to study under Kubernath Tanjorkar and under Muthaiah Pillai at Tanjore. She also took lessons in Kathak under Vishnu Vaishalkar.
Though she stayed for many years in Chennai, her interest in Sattriya continued. She studied this dance form under Tankeshwar Hazarika Barbayan, visiting Jorhat and Guwahati regularly.
She established the Pushpanjali Cultural Academy in Guwahati, offering training in Sattriya and Bharatanatyam. She trained her three daughters Vanita Nagpal, Sangeeta Mehta and Simran Raheja in Sattriya.
In 1987, she started the annual Pushpanjali Dance Festival in Guwahati to offer a platform to young dancers, even when the popular choice was Bharatanatyam. She worked with Tanksehwar Hazarika Baybayan to develop a systematic course for training of Sattriya.
Like other dancers in Assam, even when she was learning Bharatanatyam, she also worked for Sattriya to gain the form classical status.
Her daughter Sangeeta visited various Sattras, monasteries in Assam and made a documentary to popularise Sattriya.
Pushpa Bhuyan had received several awards and honours, principal among them were Shilpi Diwas Award, Assam, Ambikagiri award from Barpeta Sahitya Sabha, several television awards and Padma Shri in 2002. She had performed in major cities across the country besides in the U.S., Europe and Australia.
