Bhanumathi Narasimhan was born in Papanasam, Tamil Nadu, to Vishalakshi Ratnam and R. S. Venkat Ratnam. She is the sister of Ravi Shankar. Sri Ratnam was a scholar in the field of ayurveda and astrology. He inculcated values and ideals in his children through stories that he would tell which were steeped in the traditions of India. Her mother Smt. Vishalakshi honored traditions and nurtured the same in her children. At a young age, Bhanumathi witnessed the disparity in society where schooling for girls was not considered important. She learned singing and dance as a young girl. Painting, cooking, gardening were other areas of her interest. Completing her schooling from Bangalore, she went on to obtain a Masters in Sanskrit literature. She is the wife of Sri N. Narasimhan.
Work
Bhanumathi Narasimhan is involved in education and rural development programs as a part of The Art of Living foundation. She has instituted the "Gift a smile - Care-for-Children" program, which provides value-based holistic education for underprivileged children from rural, tribal, and slum areas free of cost. There are 435 schools in 20 states of India educating over 58,000 children with a special focus on the girl child. Bhanumathi also works on conducting programs such as Guru Puja Program that witnessed around 1,023 participants who embarked on the journey of becoming Guru Puja Pundits, of being instruments of expressing gratitude towards the entire Master tradition. Bhanumathi Narasimhan has written a book which is a biography of her brother Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a spiritual leader and founder of The Art of Living Foundation. In 2018, her book ‘Gods & Goddesses’ was dedicated to children and adults alike. Opening up new dimensions of understanding, she authored ‘Parashakti: Magical Stories of the Divine Mother’ in 2019 which entails the stories of the Devi.
Awards
In 2007, Bhanumathi received the Sadguru Gnanananda National Award and Bhanumathi received the Vocational Excellence Award from the Rotary International District 3150 in February 2014 in recognition of her outstanding achievement as a Girl Child Education Promoter & for her work towards women empowerment. For her initiatives towards empowering women and society, she was conferred the Women Economic Forum 2017 Award of "Women of Decade in Community Leadership and Social Change." The award was presented in Delhi at the Annual international Women Economic Forum conference where over 2000 inspiring women and supportive men from 150 countries joined over 6 days, making it the largest diversified global event empowering women's leadership and networking. She has also been conferred with the Nari Shakti Award which is a lifetime achievement award in 2018.
