Dr. Nanditha Krishna is the Hon Director of The C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation in Chennai and the Founder-Director of its constituents – C. P. Art Centre; C. P. R. Institute of Indological Research; Saraswathi Kendra Learning Centre for Children; C. P. R. Environmental Education Centre and the Kanchi Heritage House and Shakunthala Jagannathan Museum of Folk Art, besides several schools and a women’s college in Kanchipuram. She completed her Ph.D. from the Department of Ancient Indian Culture, University of Bombay, in 1975 on the “Iconography of Vishnu Narayana”. She was a Heras Scholar.
Her areas of specialization are Indian Art and Culture, Environmental History & Ecological Heritage of India and Cambodian Art. She is a Professor and Research Guide for Ph.D. degree in Historical Studies and Environmental Studies in C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar Institute of Indological Research, University of Madras.
Awards Received
She received the Acharya Hasti Centenary Karuna Ratna Award from Karuna International and Acharya Hasti Centenary Celebrations Committee, in 2010, Enabled Woman from Madras Management Association in 2003, Millennium Woman Award from the Forum for Women Students, Loyola College in 2000, Seva Ratna from the Centenarian Trust, Chennai in December 1999, Stree Ratna from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chennai in 1998, Outstanding Woman of Asia from the University Women of Asia in1997 and Fellow of the Institute of Social Science Research. She is very interested in Heritage Conservation.
C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation received the Rani Lady Meyammai Aachi Birthday Commemoration Award in 2005 and Dr. M. S. Swaminathan Award for Environmental Protection by Rotary Club of Madras (East) and Earth Care Group in 2004, and C.P.R. Environmental Education Centre received the Indira Gandhi Paryvaran Puraskar, India’s highest environmental award in 2000, under her Directorship.
Heritage Conservation
She has established the Shakunthala Jagannathan Museum of Folk Art at Kanchipuram (with collections of antique and old textiles, toys and dolls, musical instruments, lamps, ritual items, utensils, paintings, stone sculptures, etc.) in a 400-year old building in 2001.
She revived the Kurumba painting traditions in 2000. She was involved in the restoration of Varahishwarar Temple, Damal in 2000, Revival of Traditional Drawing and Painting in 2003 and Revival of Folk Art Forms in Schools till present.
The C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation is situated at No-1, Eldams Road, Alwarpet, Chennai 600 018. For details contact . Website: www.cprfoundation.org. E-mail: and .