Bhanumati Rao (4 December 1923 – 12 February 2022) (sometimes spelled as Bhanumathi) was an Indian classical dancer, teacher, and stage actress.
[2][1] As a member of Ram Gopal's troupe, she toured India and Europe in the 1940s, performing Indian classical dance and helping to raise funds for the colonial war effort.
[2] Following her marriage to Krishna Rao, she lived in New York in the 1950s, where she continued to perform, especially for visiting Indian diplomats and politicians including India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
[2] During this time, she also began performing in Malayalam-language theater, and often acted, directed and wrote scripts based on Malayalam literature and stories herself.
[2] For a period of ten years, in the 1990s, Rao retreated from public life and lived in an ashram (a Hindu spiritual hermitage) in Himachal Pradesh.