The word Saadhanai is derived from the Sanskrit word “saadhana” which means devotional, dedicated practice. In December 1999, Ohm Srinivasan, a student at University of Michigan, had a vision to start an organization on University of Michigan’s campus that supported the development and preservation of Classical Indian dance and music. It was his hope that the rich art forms that were slowly fading away could be taught and preserved to those who were interested. He asked two people, Anandini Chandrasekhar and Meeta Banerjee to help his dream a reality.

In January 2000, it happened. Sudha Chandrasekhar, a well known dance teacher from Detroit, agreed to come to U of M’s campus to teach classes every Wednesday night to those interested. In June 2000, Saadhanai was handed over to Meeta Banerjee.

Seeing that the dance classes were a success, she decided to start a music division of Saadhanai in September, 2000. Bringing in the musical talents of Dr. Rajan Sachdeva, a music teacher from West Bloomfield, the music division was then begun. To this date, Saadhanai has tripled in size, and it’s vision remains clear, to help others on this campus experience Indian culture at it’s peak and spread Indian music and dance to the next generations.