'KGS - A Product of One Man's Vision and Mission'

An article on Sri. R. Yagnaraman by noted art writer Smt. Lakshmi Devnath

“Krishna Gana Sabha is fifty years old,” announces, R. Yagnaraman, the eighty- years old secretary of the institution. He functions with an enthusiasm that masks his physical age. His foster child – the Krishna Gana Sabha also exhibits the same exuberant spirit with its gleaming, ethnic exteriors and an air-conditioned interior. The joint journey of this foster parent and his child commenced from the year 1957. But let us read their story right from the start.

It was the 1950’s. The up and coming musician Maharajapuram Santhanam, for various reasons, decided that his locality – T.Nagar needed a music sabha. At that time, sabhas in the city, were sparse and scattered at long distance. The thought crystallized. The Krishna Gana Sabha was born in 1954, at an auditorium in the premises of the Hindi Prachar Sabha, at Thyagaraya Nagar, Chennai. The choice of the name could not have been more appropriate. For like Lord Krishna, the Sabha, in its coming years, was to nurture both music and dance in equal measure. Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer took over as the first President of the Sabha and Santhanam became its Founder Secretary. The residents of the area joyfully welcomed the fledgling Sabha. They enrolled in large numbers. One of them was a music and dance crazy young man – R. Yagnaraman.

The history of Krishna Gana Sabha cannot be narrated without dwelling on the contribution of its General Secretary R. Yagnaraman to its growth. For, the stories of both the Sabha and its Secretary, for obvious reasons, are inextricably linked.

Pazhamaneri R. Yagnaraman came from a culturally rich family. He was a qualified lawyer but it was the fine arts that were in his veins. His enthusiasm in the arts was further spurred by his father’s words, “everybody earns money. Money is not the be all and end all of things. I want to see you make a mark in your chosen field. That is my desire.“ The father’s desire came true but unfortunately he was not alive to witness in his son’s success. Anyway, to resume the tale…

Yagnaraman’s participation in the Sabha’s activities must have impressed the Maharajapurams for within a short span of approximately three years, Yagnaraman was appointed as committee member. The demands of a successful concert career prevented Maharajapuram Santhanam from devoting adequate attention to the Sabha’s activities. In 1957, Yagnaraman was offered the post of Joint Secretary of the Sabha and in 1958 rose to become the General Secretary of the Sabha – a position he had held ever since. In the first three years of its inception, the Sabha did not even have a sheltered auditorium but functioned from an open-air auditorium at the Hindi Prachar Sabha and later on at the premises offered at the Thakkar Baba Vidyalaya – T.Nagar.

In 1957, when Yagnaraman took over the responsibility of managing the Sabha, he discovered that the Sabha’s finances were in doldrums. The administration was in a mess and as a consequence the Sabha’s membership was fast dwindling. Yagnaraman realized that it was time for concrete action. Such was his commitment to the arts that on his own personal undertaking, he negotiated a three-ground accommodation for a three-year lease in Nageswara Rao Road. Again on personal security, he obtained a loan, from the Melurkode Bank, of Rs.5000/- payable in installments. A thatched hut (kottagai) with a dais sprung up at the new locale. On Vinayaka Chaturthi the Sabha, in its new location, was inaugurated. The inaugural concert was by G.N. Balasubramaniam, with Lalgudi Jayaraman on the violin and Palani Subramania Pillai and his disciple Trichy Sankaran on the mridangams. It was a great start, which augured a promising future.

Stalwart musicians like Ariyakudi, Semmangudi, GNB, Alathur Brothers, Madurai Mani, Madurai Somu, DKP, MS, MLV and others, young geniuses of the time like Flute Mali, Lalgudi Jayaraman and so on, dancers of the caliber of Balasaraswati, Kamala, Vyjayanthimala to name a few, dramatists like the TKS brothers, S.V.Sahasranamam and thespian Sivaji Ganesan are but a sampling of the big names who enthusiastically participated in giving programmes at this venue. The demand for membership at the Sabha soared. The Sabha was now literally bursting at its seams. Added to this was the fact that the three-year lease was coming to an end. (click for full article..)

More articles on Sri R. Yagnaraman:

'A Trendsetter' - 'Hamsadhwani' R. Ramachandran, in The Hindu.

'Yagnaraman Passes Away' - Meera Srinivasan, in The Hindu.

'A Towering Personality' - Nritya Choodamani Lakshmi Viswanathan, in The New Indian Express.

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 R. Yagnaraman, General Secretary of Sri Krishna Gana Sabha(1956-2007)

Sri Yagnaraman with the great Sri Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer @SKGS in the early 80s

In conversation with 'The Queen of Song' M.S. Subbulakshmi@SKGS  in the 1970s

Honouring Violin Maestro Lalgudi G. Jayaraman@SKGS in the 1980s