Heritage continues
SVK
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The Parthasarathy Swamy Sabha is 108 years old this year. A trip down nostalgia lane.
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Sri Parthasarathy Swamy Sabha has been one of the pioneers of the renaissance of Carnatic music and Bharatasastra in South India
FOUNDER: Thirumalachariar.
Triplicane, now Thiruvallikeni, has many outstanding aspects to write home about. The suburb of Chennai was home to the mathematics genius Srinivasa Ramanujan and poet Subramania Bharathi. Such eminence is shared by the Sri Parthasarathy Swamy Sabha, which steps into its 108th year of existence.
Like a reed that bends during a flood and straightens again, the Sabha too has gone through several vicissitudes and has reached the 108th milestone without a premises of its own – a resilience that it has shown with the unstinted co-operation of the Triplicane residents. The meek shall inherit my Kingdom, said God. The ‘meek’ sabha, when compared to the some of the posh music halls of many contemporary organisations, has inherited the kingdom of the deity of Triplicane, Sri Parthasarathy Swamy. Today, both the temple and the sabha stand for the continuing cultural heritage that the place has nurtured all along.
The Sri Parthasarathy Swamy Sabha was started in 1900 by Mauni Thirumalachariar with about 50 members. He conducted programmes of music, bhajans and harikatha in the hall of his residence ‘Blue House’ on Gate East Tank Square. It was operational for five years (1900-1905) with no subscriptions, though many eminent artists who took part were remunerated by those who had organised them.
Spacious venue
Swelling membership and their support necessitated the shifting of the venue to a more spacious place. The open terrace of a house in T.P. Koil Street was used for sometime and later two schools — The Hindu High School and N.K.T. School — offered to hold the kutcheries, dance recitals and dramas. Even today, I am sure their walls will echo with Harikatha expositions of such greats as Krishna Bhagavathar, Panchapakesa Sastri and Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar and great concerts of Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Konerirajapuram Vaidyanatha Iyer, Madurai Pushpavanam, violinist Tirukkodikaval Krishna Iyer, Govindaswamy Pillai, mridangists Azhaga Nambi, Dakshinamurthy Pillai, Mysore Veena Seshanna and several reputed Hindustani musicians.
In fact, Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar ‘scored’ a century of concerts at the sabha, to put it in cricket parlance, especially since the game is a favourite with the Triplicane population.
Like Srinivasa Ramanujan and Bharathi, Triplicane gave to cricket M.J. Gopalan, who was also the president of the sabha for some years, and C.R. Rangachari.
What the sabha did all those years was epitomised in what C. Rajagopalachari said on the day of the golden jubilee celebrations. He said, “The Sri Parthasarathy Swamy Sabha has been one of the pioneers of the renaissance of Carnatic music and Bharatasastra in South India and during its long, continuous career of usefulness, it has taken every opportunity to cultivate sound taste and to encourage worthy exponents of the musical and dramatic arts.”
Ariyakudi addressing the gathering at the sabha
The words of the wise also foresee the future. What Rajaji said more than half a century ago, still inspires the sabha. It was flattering to gain such recognition from elites of those days. Who were responsible for the sabha to get such high compliments?
If any institution can grow for a century with confidence and preserve the lofty ideals with which it was started, the merit should justifiably go to the succession of dedicated office-bearers, men of integrity, motivated by high principles and missionary zeal.
The Parthasarathy Swamy Sabha’s 108-years of service to Indian arts and culture has been blessed with highly service-minded people serving it and the unstinted support of the Triplicane citizens.
The first step in the acquisition of land for its use was taken in 1959 when the sabha entered into a lease agreement for 25 years with the Vaisya Charities at 130, Venkatarangam Pillai Street. After facing great difficulty in raising funds to build a stage and an auditorium, it came to fruition in 1962. In this effort, M. S. Subbulakshmi and Vyjayantimala Bali extended their support through their performances, and managed to raise a sizeable amount.
The Central Government provided Rs. 25,000. Since the renewal of the lease after the contracted years did not come about, the sabha has again been thrown into the need of fixing halls for their festivals.
Already fragile in health, the Sri Parthasarathy Swamy Sabha shares with other sabhas the experience of depleting membership due to television’s invasion into every home.
From about 150 members on its 75th anniversary, it has come down to half its original strength. Like burning candles at both ends, the depleted membership and the hefty expenses in arranging cultural events stare at the face. To some extent, sponsorship from corporate houses have provided some financial support to sabhas in general.
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