Born in Madras Presidency, India

T. Balasaraswati was born on May 13, 1918, in Madras, into a family celebrated for generations as custodians of South Indian classical music and dance. She was the great-granddaughter of the famed nagaswaram and vocal composer-musician Vina Dhanammal, whose household was a revered center of Carnatic music tradition, and the daughter of Jayammal, herself an accomplished vocalist.

Born into the devadasi community—hereditary female temple dancers and musicians who preserved and transmitted the classical arts across centuries—Bala inherited both extraordinary artistic knowledge and the social stigma that had come to be attached to this community by the early twentieth century, as colonial-era reform movements sought to abolish the devadasi system. Her birth into this lineage placed her at a crucial historical juncture: she would grow up to become the artist most responsible for legitimizing and elevating what was then called sadir into the concert dance form known today as Bharatanatyam.

Her early exposure to music and dance within her home, surrounded by master musicians and dancers, gave her an unparalleled grounding in the abhinaya (expressive) and rhythmic traditions of the Tanjore quartet style, setting the stage for her later transformation of the art form's public perception and international stature.