Four Score and More— The History of Sree Rama Seva Mandali, Bengaluru 

By N. Krishnamurthy

Sree Rama Seva Mandali has been conducting the most popular Carnatic music festival in Bengaluru for over 80 years. Just as The Music Academy has played a key role in the Margazhi festival, Sree Rama Seva Mandali has played a pivotal role in the Rama Navami music festival in Bengaluru. Unlike The Music Academy, the Rama Seva Mandali (Mandali) does not have a building and an auditorium. In fact, it is in this little detail that the magic of this festival lies. There is no grand airconditioned auditorium: it is held in a pandal. It is a people’s festival. This festival is considered as the fourth oldest Carnatic Music festival, after Tyagaraja Aradhana in Tiruvayyaru, Tamil Nadu (1846), Chembai Sangeetotsavam in Guruvayur, Kerala (1910) and the Marghazi festival in Chennai (1927).

In 1937, a 13-year-old boy named S.V. Narayanaswamy Rao (SVN) took part in a protest as part of the freedom movement in Bangalore’s City Market area, accompanied by a friend. During the demonstration, police opened fire, and his friend was critically wounded. As he lay on the ground, he is said to have called out “Hare Rama,” surrendering his life to Lord Rama. The young SVN witnessed this tragic moment—a memory that would leave a deep and lasting impression on him.

Next year, SVN and his friends collected money from residents of Chamarajpet in South Bangalore, and conducted ‘Kamana Habba’, as the Holi festival is called in Karnataka. The crowd funding left SVN with a grand saving of Rs 4. That was the seed money for the modest beginnings of the Rama Navami music festival. Thus, a 15-year-old boy — S.V. Narayanaswamy Rao— started the festival on 29 March 1939 on the footpath of 3rd main road in Chamarajpet, in South Bangalore. From such humble beginnings to attracting over 7500 people to a Ranjani-Gayatri concert in 2025, it has been a long and satisfying journey for the family. It was one man’s, (rather a boy’s) dream backed by relentless work, dedication, public relations, and a never-say-die attitude.

I met 93-year-old Hari Rao who used to live on the same road in Chamarajpet, Bangalore and has been a witness to the growth in popularity of the festival. “In the initial years, it was mainly Harikatha sessions by renowned Bhagavathars. Later, SVN decided to start music concerts. That is when the venue also shifted to Sri Rameshwara Temple, also in Chamarajpet,” said Rao.

The first major concert at the festival was by Salem Desikan in 1944, when Desikan himself was barely 18. “Later, the Mandali made it a practice to start the festival with a vocal concert by Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, a custom that lasted many years,” said Abhijith Varadaraj, SVN’s grandson.

In 1952, the festival shifted to a spacious pandal next to the City Institute, also in Chamarajpet. By then, the festival had become very popular and the pandal could take 4000 people. In 1968, the festival shifted to the Fort High School grounds in Chamarajpet.

Every year, this dusty ground transforms to a temporary auditorium. This year, the pandal auditorium was about 40,000 sq. ft, half the size of a football field and accommodated 10,000 people. On 13 April 2025, for Ranjani-Gayatri, there were about 7500 people, nearly five times a full house at The Music Academy, Chennai.

There are about 20 speakers supported by state-of-the-art audio equipment. The temporary pandal has offices, an air-conditioned lounge for the artists, a large kitchen where special meals are made for volunteers and artists, and a dining area. There is also a sanctorum for homams and rituals. For a month, this pandal becomes a self-contained ‘temple’ of music. It is a ginormous affair. This year, the festival was held for nearly a month.

“What makes the festival extra special is the pandal,” says Abhijith. “I urge Narayanaswamy Rao and his team to continue the tradition of celebrating Rama Navami in a pandal every year,” Sri Rajagopalachari had said. The pandal signifies a people’s festival.

“SVN democratised music,” said Abhijith. For this mass movement to remain a continuous success, many aspects had to gel. SVN believed that the concerts must be ticketed. Since the 1940s, the festival has had tickets. Most of the other Rama Navami festivals in the city are free concerts.

SVN’s boundless determination, but for which a high-quality festival of this size could not have been sustained. His never-say-die attitude came to the fore in a strange incident once. T.R. Mahalingam, the famous flautist, was a regular performer. One year, he did not arrive in Bangalore on the concert day. SVN could have requested another artist to take his place, as is the normal practice. That was not to be. He came to know that T.R. Mahalingam was in Salem. He sent a team to fetch him, almost by force. The concert eventually started at 11:30 pm and went into the wee hours of the morning. Such was SVN’s persistence.

According to Hari Rao, who has attended the festival for over 80 years, SVN combined divinity (Rama bhakti) and music and that has had mass appeal. There are Ramayana discourses every morning, and concerts in the evening. The idols of Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana are placed in a 13-feet tall silver mandap. As if to guard his beloved God 24x7, SVN would stay at the pandal throughout the festival. In 1998, for the Mandali’s 60th year celebrations, SVN stayed at the pandal for 63-day long festival.

“It is more than a music festival, it is a yagna,” said Abhijith. “My concert every year at Sree Rama Seva Mandali is purely a prayer to Lord Ramachandra,” Yesudas had said. He has performed 50 times at the festival and would draw a crowd of over 10,000 people. Two years after that Maha Yagna, in the year 2000, SVN passed away.

I have been a regular at the festival for over 30 years. With such a rich legacy, the current team could have taken the festival’s continued success for granted. They have moved with the times, retaining the core value which is ‘divinity blended with music’. The family and its Trust continue to deliver quality experience year after year, even after SVN’s death in 2000.

For the last five to six years, S.N. Rama Prasad, the eldest son of SVN, and his team have been organising concerts during Rama Navami at an idyllic farm in a village called Nettigere, about 35 kms from Bengaluru. These concerts are also held in SVN’s memory, thus, doubling the celebrations of his legacy to two venues. An award called the ‘SVN Memorial National Award’ has been instituted, and this year the award was conferred on Chitravina Ravikiran.

87 years back, a 13-year-old boy dared to dream about celebrating Rama Navami through music in a mass movement. His legacy lives on long after his death.

(The author is the co-founder of a technology company, and writes on travel and music)

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PDF:  The History of Sree Rama Seva Mandali, Bengaluru