Carnatic Singer M. S. Subbulakshmi and her Bharat Ratna award

In 1998, Indian singer Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi was awarded the Bharat Ratna. As India’s highest civilian award, it recognises exceptional service and performance of the highest order, without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex.

Established in 1954, the Bharat Ratna – which translates as “Jewel of India” – has been awarded to figures as diverse as Scientist C.V. Raman, Saint Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela.  

M.S Subbulakshmi was born in 1916, Madurai, Tamil Nadu – then called the Madras Presidency. She was born into a musical family – her mother was the well-known veena player Shanmukavadiver Ammal, while her grandmother was a violinist.
 
Subbulakshmi began learning Carnatic music at an early age, receiving training from the Carnatic singer Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. 

In 1927, at the age of eleven, Subbulakshmi made her first public performance, singing at Tiruchirappalli’s famous Thayumanaswami Temple, inside its 100-pillar hall. 

Then, in 1929, she performed at the prestigious Madras Music Academy – an event that awoke the music world to her

Before she was to become an internationally-renowned singer, however, M.S Subbulakshmi had a brush with cinema. In 1938, she starred in the Tamil movie Sevasadanam – a commercial and critical success.

In Sevasadanam, she took the role of Sumathi, a married woman in an abusive relationship, who is driven from her home by her husband and forced into prostitution. Eventually, Sumathi gives up prostitution and devotes her life to running an institution for the children of prostitutes.

In all, Subbulakshmi acted in five movies. It was her role as the Rajasthani saint-poetess Meera in the eponymous 1945 movie that made her a household name in India.  

In this movie, she sang Meera’s devotional songs, or bhajans – which was an opportunity to showcase her singing voice.

Some of her most memorable performances include the Edinburgh International Festival of Music and Drama in 1963, at the UN General Assembly on UN Day, New York in 1966, at the Royal Albert Hall, London in 1982, and at the Festival of India, Moscow in 1987.

For much of the 20th century, adoration rained down on her. Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru said of her: "Who am I, a mere Prime Minister before a Queen, a Queen of Music." 

The civil rights leader and poet Sarojini Naidu called her the "Nightingale of India."

Over her long career, she received numerous awards, including the Ramon Magsaysay award in 1974, the prestigious Kalidas Samman in 1988, as well as her crowning achievement, the Bharat Ratna, in 1998.

She donated much of the prize money from these awards to charity. The desire to help those in need characterized her life – Subbulakshmi was actively involved in humanitarian work, and performed over 200 charity concerts, raising over Rs. 10,000,000 for different causes. 

M.S. Subbulakshmi died in 2004. In the year following her death, the United Nations issued postage stamps commemorating her birth centenary. Then, in 2006, the Tirupati Urban Development Authority erected a bronze statue of her in the city of Tirupati, in south-eastern India.