Thiagaraja Sadasivam (4 September 1902 – 21 November 1997
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freedom fighter A freedom fighter is a person engaged in a struggle to achieve political freedom, particularly against an established government. The term is typically reserved for those who are actively involved in armed or otherwise violent rebellion. Termi ...

, singer, journalist and film producer who was one of the founders, along with

Kalki Krishnamurthy Ramaswamy Krishnamurthy (9 September 1899 – 5 December 1954), better known by his pen name Kalki, was an Indian writer, journalist, poet, critic and Indian independence activist who wrote in Tamil. He chose the pen-name "Kalki", the future i ...

of the Tamil magazine

Kalki Kalki (), also called Kalkin, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hinduism, Hindu god Vishnu. According to Vaishnavism, Vaishnava cosmology, Kalki is destined to appear at the end of the Kali Yuga, the last of the four ages i ...

. He is well known as the husband of famous classical carnatic singer

M.S. Subbulakshmi Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi (16 September 1916 – 11 December 2004) was an Indian Carnatic singer. She was the first musician ever to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour and also the first Indian musici ...

Life

Kalki Sadasivam was born in a Tamil

Brahmin Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...

family on 4 September 1902 at Aangarai in

Tiruchirapalli District Tiruchirappalli District is List of districts of Tamil Nadu, one of the 38 districts, located along the Kaveri River, in Tamil Nadu, India. The headquarters of the district is the city of Tiruchirappalli. During the British Raj, the district wa ...

, the third of 16 children of Tyagarajan and Mangalam Iyer. His maternal uncle was Aswathy Narayanan Iyer. Impressed by the fiery speeches and writings of

Lala Lajpat Rai Lala Lajpat Rai (28 January 1865 — 17 November 1928) was an Indian revolutionary, politician, and author, popularly known as ''Punjab Kesari (Lion of Punjab).'' He was one of the three members of the Lal Bal Pal trio. He died of severe tra ...

Bipin Chandra Pal Bipin Chandra Pal ( ; 7 November 1858 – 20 May 1932) was an Indian nationalist, writer, orator, social reformer and freedom fighter. He was one third of the " Lal Bal Pal" triumvirate. He was one of the main architects of the Swadeshi move ...

Lokamanya Tilak Bal Gangadhar Tilak (; born Keshav Gangadhar Tilak (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, eʃəʋ ɡəŋɡaːd̪ʱəɾ ʈiɭək; 23 July 1856 – 1 August 1920), endeared as Lokmanya (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ' ...

and

Aurobindo Ghosh Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian yogi, maharishi, and Indian nationalist. He also edited the newspaper ''Bande Mataram''. Aurobindo studied for the Indian Civil Service at King' ...

, Kalki Sadasivam joined the freedom movement at an early age and being a disciple of

Subramaniya Siva Subramaniya Siva (4 October 1884 – 23 July 1925) was an Indian freedom fighter, writer and pure Tamil movement activist during the Indian independence movement. Life Subramaniya Siva was born in a Tamil Brahmin Iyer family at Batlagundu ne ...

desired to kill an Englishman and court imprisonment for the sake of it. As a result, he quit school and enlisted in the Bharata Samaj, serving

, who was afflicted with leprosy and ardent in involving himself in the Swadeshi Movement. On listening to speeches by

Rajagopalachari Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (10 December 1878 – 25 December 1972), popularly known as Rajaji or C.R., also known as Mootharignar Rajaji (Rajaji'', the Scholar Emeritus''), was an Indian statesman, writer, lawyer, and Indian independence ...

and

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

he later adopted

non-violence Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...

. Sadasivam had two daughters, Radha Vishwanathan and Vijaya, from his first wife, Smt. Apithakuchambal, who died in 1938. In July 1936, Sadasivam met the famous singer

, who subscribed to his ideological and political views. The two eventually married on 10 July 1940, after his first wife died. Radha later started accompanying her stepmother Subbulakshmi as a backup singer at her performances and later became a popular musician in her own right. Sadasivam worked for the Tamil publication Anand Vikatan in the 1930s. He was a close friend of journalist and writer Kalki Krishnamurthy, with whom he co-founded the popular magazine Kalki in 1940. Sadasivam's nephew (sister's son) Ramachandran, known as Ambi in music circles, married Krishnamurthy's daughter Anandi. Sadasivam's two daughters, Radha and Vijaya, were married on the same day. Vijaya was married to Rajendran, son of Kalki Krishnamurthy. Sadasivam died in 1997 at the age of 95, and his final rites were carried out in Chennai by his adopted son, S Thyagarajan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sadasivam, Kalki 1902 births 1997 deaths Journalists from Tamil Nadu Indian independence activists from Tamil Nadu Tamil-language writers People from Tiruchirappalli district 20th-century Indian journalists