Thiruvidaimarudur Sambamurti Ganapaadigal Balakrishna Sastrigal (1919–2003) was a Great Hindu scholar and harikatha exponent.

Early life

TS Balakrishna Sastrigal was born in 1919 in the town of Madras now known as Chennai in Tamil Nadu to Sambamurti Ganapaadigal. Sambamurti Ganapaadigal was a Vedic scholar who gave discourses.

Sastrigal had his schooling in Madras and graduated from the Madras Christian College. During his days in college, Balakrishna Sastrigal was proficient in English literature and acted in a few Shakespeare plays. He was fluent in several languages.

On completion of his studies, Sastrigal joined the Imperial bank of India (now State Bank of India).

His contribution is unimaginable and a source of great inspiration to many across the world. People would come and gather in thousands to listen to him. Such was his popularity. His recordings are much sort after to many across the globe.

Family

Sastrigal was married to Smt. Nagalakshmi, daughter of Vedic scholar Somadeva Sarma (as also elder sister to Upansayam exponent Srivatsa Jayarama Sarma). Sastrigal's eldest son is Tamil actor, playwright and film director, T. S. B. K. Moulee. Another son, S. B. Khanthan is also a director in movies and in small screen. His eldest daughter is Smt. Padma Ramanathan and youngest Smt. Sankari Ramanarayan .

Awards

• Sangeetha Kalasikhamani, 1988 by The Indian Fine Arts Society, Chennai.

References

• Profiles of Artistes, Composers, Musicologists at saigan.com
• DVV (20 June 2003). "Versatile exponent of Harikatha". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 6 October 2003.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
• Harikatha artiste Balakrishna Sastrigal passes away at kutcheribuzz.com