Mrinalini Sarabhai, an Indian dancer and choreographer who brought ancient South Indian dance forms into the 20th century and infused her work with social commentary, died on Jan. 21 at her home in Ahmedabad, in western India. She was 97.

The cause was complications of a stomach infection, her son, Kartikeya, said.

Ms. Sarabhai was one of the first women to perform Kathakali, a classical dance form based on Hindu epics that was usually performed by all-male troupes in elaborate makeup and costumes. She was also among a group of contemporaries who introduced wider audiences to Bharatanatyam, a dance form that had traditionally been presented in temples by women who were promised to Hindu gods.

As a choreographer, Ms. Sarabhai often deviated from the typical subjects of classical dance to tackle injustice.

For example, “Memory Is a Ragged Fragment of Eternity,” a Bharatanatyam dance, depicts a young bride driven to suicide. Ms. Sarabhai’s inspiration came from reading newspaper reports of young women dying of burns and learning that these were often cases of “dowry death”: a phenomenon in which women were abused and sometimes killed or driven to suicide by their husbands for not providing enough dowry.