Career
Born and brought up in Mumbai in a Gujarati household. Later, she learned the traditional Raslila dances from Sutradhari Kshetritombi Devi, the Nata Pung from Guru Meitei Tomba Singh and traditional Maibi Jagoi from Kumar Maibi. By the 1950s, the Jhaveri sisters, Nayana, Ranjana, Suverna and Darshana had started performing together on stage all over India and abroad, and in 1956 were the first non-Manipuris to perform their dances at the Govindji Temple inside the royal palace of Imphal.
Eventually the sisters established the Manipuri Nartanalaya with their Guru and Kalavati Devi in 1972, at Mumbai, Kolkata and Imphal, and in time their name became synonymous to Manipuri dance.
Over the years, Darshana has published several books and articles on the dance and has assisted her guru during his lifetime, in teaching, research as well as in choreography, before taking on the mantle herself. Today, according to a noted dance critic Sunil Kothari, they are "responsible for bringing the temple tradition of Manipuri dance to the cities".
Nayana died two decades ago and with Suverna unwell, Ranjana and Darshana continue to perform along with her Dance troupe and teach Manipuri dance.
