The Madras High Court on Wednesday wanted to know whether the Centre had any plans to shift Sangita Vadyalaya, the only institution of its kind in Asia to preserve ancient musical instruments and exhibit many replicas of such instruments, from Anna Salai in Chennai to New Delhi.
Justices N. Sathish Kumar and P.T. Asha directed a Central government standing counsel to take notice on behalf of Union Ministry of Textiles, under which the vadyalaya was functioning, and obtain instructions by Thursday since it was claimed that plans were afoot to shift the museum by the end of this month.
P. Subramanian, 75, a leading handicrafts exporter of Chennai, had claimed so in a public interest litigation petition filed by him opposing the move to shift the museum.
According to the petitioner, Sangita Vadyalaya was founded by the legendary B. Sambamurthy and declared open by the former President Rajendra Prasad in 1963.
It was initially housed at Raja Annamalai Mandram before being shifted to its current location on Anna Salai, thanks to the efforts of former Director Tadepalli Lokanatha Sarma.
“Apart from ancient instruments ranging from Circa BC to till last century, the Sangita Vadyalaya houses 200-odd recreated instruments.
Unique collection
“While the ancient instruments were painstakingly collected by Prof. Sambamurthy and Lokanatha Sarma, the recreated instruments were the result of the pain and sweat of over 70 artisans who toiled for years to bring them to life. It is the only museum of such nature in whole of Asia,” the petitioner said in his affidavit.
Citadel of Carnatic music
Stating that it would be apropos to let the museum continue in Chennai which was considered the citadel of Carnatic music and the only place which dedicates the entire Tamil month of Margazhi for Carnatic performances, the petitioner urged the court to restrain the Centre from shifting the museum to New Delhi.
“These traditional, rare and priceless musical instruments are an evidence of cultural and musical heritage of India and it is an asset of Chennai. Without the contribution and hard work of people from Chennai, it would not have been possible to collect and recreate each of those rare instruments and create this museum,” he added.
