About Us
In the year 1896, Sri Manni Tirumalchariar felt the need for an Institution to promote and nurture all aspects of Indian Culture and Fine Arts and hence started this Organisation which was originally named as “Sangeetha Vidwad Sabha”.
Later in the year 1900, it was registered as a Sabha to make it a public institution and was named as “Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha” to invoke the blessings of the presiding deity of Sri Parthasarathy Swami temple, Triplicane, Madras.
Our Sabha is the oldest cultural organization in South India and it is the First Institution of its kind to be started.
Between the year 1900 and 1905 the programmes were held at the residence of Sri Tirumalachariar. In the early stages, Retired Diwans from Mysore and Travancore Durbars, High Court Judges and Members of the Madras Presidency were involved and formed part of the Executive Committee of the Sabha. Great G.N. Balasubramanian’s father Sri. G.V. Narayanaswamy Iyer was our Sabha’s Hon. Secretary in the year 1930.
Our founder, a prominent resident of Triplicane has also helped in establishing the national newspaper “The Hindu” in 1870’s.
The objectives of the Sabha was not only confine to classical carnatic Music but also encourage Harikathas, Dramas, Dance programmes, and Religious Discourses. In the first two decades of the existence, the Sabha programmes were mostly Bhajans and Harikathas. Veteran in Harikatha, Sri Krishna Bhagavathar was a regular performer in the Sabha which contributed immensely in building up the reputation of the Sabha. In the year 1905, the religious discourses of Rao Bahadur Prof. M. Rangachari on “Srimad Bhagavad Geetha” was compiled and released in the book form in Three Volumes. In the year 1906, Pandit Sri Madhan Mohan Malaviya delivered his lecture in the Sabha.
The Sabha is proud to have a long list of Musical genius who have performed at the Sabha – Bidaram Krishnappa, Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar,Flute Sarabha Sastrigal, Thirukkodikaval Krishna Iyer, Konerirajapuram Vaidyanatha Iyer, Madurai Pushpavanam, Malaikkottai Govindasami Pillai, Kancheepuram Naina Pillai, Azhaga Nambi and Dakshinamoorthy, Veena Seshanna of the Older generation, and the next generation commencing with Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Tiger Varadachariar, Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer, Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, Choudiah to mention a few. Along with them the other contemporaries have contributed immensely in building up the reputation of the Sabha all through.
In fact, a performance in our Sabha was considered as a Certificate of Excellence. Even during the World War in 1939, Programmes were still conducted on Important Festival Days.
Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar is the one who had given more than 100 recitals for our Sabha. Towards Forties, dramas were greatly patronised by the people. Nawab Rajamanickam Pillai staged his epic dramas for 10 consecutive days. This trend was followed later by drama troupes of S.V.Sahasranamam, Sivaji Ganesan, R.S. Manohar, ‘Major’ Sundararajan and others.
Our Sabha encouraged women to give public performance as early as forties and the first lady to perform on stage was Smt. Balasaraswathi, followed by others. Our Sabha hosted performances by Vidwans from North India also, like Pandit Ravi Shankar, Omkarnath Thakur, Gangubhai Hungel, Ustad Bismillah Khan and Roshan Kumari during our annual celebrations.
Our Sabha has instituted three titles which are awarded annually, “Sangeetha Kalasarathy” for a Musician, “Natya Kalasarathy” for a Dancer and “Nataka Kalasarathy” for a Dramatist.
Dr. Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer gave a Special Concert for for 2½ hours at the Centenary Celebrations of our Sabha, even at the age of 92.
The Sabha has been very fortunate to have succession of vibrant and prominent office bearers who rendered selfless service in striving to keep up the tradition and goodwill of the sabha over a Century and a decade.
“A decade has passed after Centenary Celebration and our President Dr. Nalli Kuppuswami Chetti is a tower of strength and a driving force behind our team” feels the present Secretaries Sri. M. Krishnamurthy and Sri. K. Hariharan.
The Sabha which was started in 19th Century to make substantial contribution to the cause of Fine Arts , Culture and Tradition has successfully travelled through the 20th Century and stepped into the 21st Century. We take pride in this unique distinction and pledge ourselves to carry on with the same tradition and dedication forever.
