Bangalore Nagarathnamma

Who was Bangalore Nagarathnamma?

Bangalore Nagarathnamma (3 November 1878 – 19 May 1952) was an Indian Carnatic singer, cultural activist, scholar, and devadasi. Nagarathnamma was born in 1878 to Puttu Lakshmi and Vakil Subba Rao, in Nanjangud. A descendant of devadasis, she was also a patron of the arts and a historian. ban built a temple over the samadhi of the Carnatic singer Tyagaraja at Thiruvaiyaru and helped establish the Tyagaraja Aradhana festival in his memory. Within a male-dominated festival, she was the feminist strong enough to ensure that women artists were given equality to participate in it. She also edited and published books on poetry and anthologies. Puttu Lakshmi's ancestors served as singers and musicians in the court of Mysore. Abandoned by Subba Rao, she found refuge under Shastri, a Sanskrit scholar in the court of the Mysore Maharaja.

He educated Nagarathnamma in Sanskrit and music, and she was initiated in devadasi at the age of five.

Historical significance

She "was among the last practitioners of the devadasi tradition in India," and the first president of the Association of the Devadasis of Madras Presidency.