Chennai’s oldest sabha seeks a home
December 2011
Every music season, Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha draws rasikas and performers from all over the world, but the city’s oldest sabha is yet to find a permanent home.
Chennai’s oldest sabha seeks a home
CHENNAI: Every music season, Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha draws rasikas and performers from all over the world, but the city’s oldest sabha is yet to find a permanent home.
“Our monthly programmes are held in Mylapore Fine Arts Club or Narada Gana Sabha,” says sabha secretary M Krishnamurthy. “Since these organisations need their premises during the December season, we conduct our programmes at Vidya Bharathi, a wedding hall in Mylapore,” says Krishnamurthy, who is preparing for the inauguration of their festival on December 15.
2025
The Parthasarathy Swami Sabha does not currently have its own permanent auditorium but rents the venue at Vidya Bharathi in Mylapore, Chennai. The sabha has plans to acquire property and build its own auditorium, but finances are a challenge. It does have a small property in Triplicane where it conducts classes and workshops
In 1957, the sabha acquired land in Triplicane on a 25-year-lease .
The sabha, originally called Sangeetha Vidwad Sabha, was established by Sri Manni Tirumalachariar, a prominent member of the Mandyam community, in 1896 in Triplicane. It was registered in 1900 and renamed Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha. The 111-year-old sabha, which started out with 50 members, now has a strength of 1,050.
“Tirumalachariar wanted to form an association to conduct bhajans and harikatha for the local community,” says Krishnamurthy. At first, programmes were held in Tirumalachariar’s house, and then shifted to Blue House on Gate East Tank Square. Later, performances were held at Hindu High School and NKT School, two large institutions in the area. Artists like M S Subbulakshmi, Vyjayanthimala Bali and Hema Malini had performances in 1960 to help raise funds for an open air theatre, built two years later. The lease ran out in 1982.
Chief minister Jayalalithaa, who is still a member of the sabha, first staged her dancedrama ‘Kaveri Thantha Kalaichelvi’ here. Carnatic music’s most illustrious names—from Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar and Madurai Pushpavanam to Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar and Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar—gave recitals here. “Even during World War II, programmes were conducted during important festivals,” says Krishnamurthy.
The sabha has been witness to cultural and social changes. The first two decades of the 1900s were devoted to harikathas and bhajans. The 1920s saw the rise of the classical singers and Tamil drama gained in popularity in the ’40s. “The first woman to perform on stage was Balasaraswathy . Till the late 1950s, men and
women did not even sit together to watch performances . Men sat on one side, women on the other and there was a rope separating the sections,” says Krishnamurthy.
“The sabha is one of the pioneers in promoting Carnatic music and allied arts,” says mridangam artist Umayalpuram Sivaraman, who has been associated with the sabha since his father’s time. “It was considered an acid test for vidwans to perform for Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha in those days,” he says.
The sabha also conducts music classes. However, the sabha is looking for a permanent home. “Since 1992, we have been trying to buy a place, but every time we collect money, the rates go up. We cannot afford to buy land in this area,” he says.
Sabha members hope that the government will help them out. “If we get land we can build an auditorium and a music centre,” says Krishnamurthy . “Carnatic music is gaining popularity even in the west. Having a residential school would help people learn music from senior artistes.”