Mysore Education Society co-founder Vimala Rangachar passes away

Vimala Rangachar, a multifaceted cultural personality and educationist, passed away at 97 in Bengaluru.

Vimala Rangachar, 97, a patron of crafts, textiles, theatre personality, builder of several institutions and an educationist associated with the reputed Mysore Education Society (MES) in Bengaluru, passed away in the city on February 25 evening. She was suffering from age-related illnesses.

Her daughter Revathi, a classical dancer based in the United States of America, will reach Bengaluru on February 27 following which the last rites will be held the same day. 

Vimala Rangachar was the granddaughter of Venkataranga Iyengar, one of the founders of Malleswaram in the late 19th century. The locality was home for Vimala Rangachar all her life. She was one of the founders of Mysore Education Society (MES) in 1956 and was involved in running many education institutions of the MES till her last day. Having chaired MES for many years, she was serving as a member of its management committee at the time of her demine.

She is one of the founders of the Malleswaram Enterprising Women’s Society (MEWS), and a patron of Seva Sadan, which she took over from Lokasundari, Nobel laureate scientist Sir C. V. Raman’s wife who started it in 1936. She lived in an old-style beautiful house at Malleswaram till her last breath. 

Vimala Rangachar, born in 1929, was married to Dr. Rangachar, a doctor and army veteran, when she was just 16 years old, as was the practice in those days. However, it did not deter her. Returning from Italy where he served during World War II, Dr. Rangachar set up practice at Malleswaram. Meanwhile, Vimala Rangachar completed her graduation in English and Psychology, and soon bloomed into a multi-faceted cultural personality at Malleswaram, associating herself with MES, MEWS and Seva Sadan in the 1950s, an association which continued till her demise. 

Vimala Rangachar was active in promoting performing arts, traditional crafts, mainly textiles, something which she inherited from her mother Ammanni Ammal, who was known to design her own sarees. Through this work, she came in contact with Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay and considered Kamaladevi her mentor. She came to head the Karnataka chapter of both Bharatiya Natya Sangh and Crafts Council of India that Kamaladevi set up. She even received the Kamala Sanman, given in Kamaladevi’s memory, in 2004. She was presented the Rajyotsava award in 2003. 

She was a passionate theatre person. She was heading a theatre troupe called Kalajyothi. Disappointed with men playing women’s roles on stage, she took to acting, even roping in her husband to act. Their productions of many plays by T. P. Kailasam and Pravatavani were hits. The couple staged Kailasam’s superhit play Ammavra Ganda in Hindi to an audience that included India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.