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Pupul Jayakar, 81; Led Revival Of Arts and Handicrafts in India

By JOHN F. BURNS

NEW DELHI, April 1 - Pupul Jayakar, who became known as India's "czarina of culture" when she melded her passion for Indian arts and handicrafts with a close and influential friendship with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, died on Friday at her home in Bombay, Indian press reports said.  She was 81.

As a prominent figure in the women's movement that took part in India's struggle for independence from Britain, Mrs. Jayakar was a confidante of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister.

But is was her relationship with Nehru's daughter, Mrs. Gandhi, from the time both were teen-agers that helped her assume a dominant and controversial role in the nation's cultural affairs during the height of Mrs. Gandhi's power in the 1970's and early 80's.  She was appointed adviser to the Prime Minister on heritage and cultural matters and given the rank of minister of state.  

Abroad, Mrs. Jayakar was perhaps best known for her part in organizing a series of Indian arts festivals in the 1980's in France, the United States and Japan that were credited with popularizing Indian artistic achievements in the West.  But it was at home that she made her most important mark, encouraging the revival of Indian arts, particularly weaving, handicrafts and village art.

Mrs. Jayakar outlived her husband, Manmohan Jayakar, a barrister, by 25 years.  She remained active to the end of her life in some of India's most important cultural organizations, including the Crafts Museum in New Delhi, the Calico Museum of Textiles in Ahmedabad and the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage which she founded in 1984.

"I can look back with satisfaction that I have lit a few lamps in this country," she said in an interview a few months before her death.