Kalki Sadasivam Biography 
Thiagarajan Sadasivam, better known as Kalki Sadasivam was a leading freedom fighter and journalist. He along with his friend Kalki Krishnamurthy started the Tamil magazine, Kalki in 1940. Famous classical carnatic singer M.S. Subbulakshmi was his wife. He married M.S in 1940 after the death of his first wife, Apithakuchambal. Famous Carnatic vocalist, Radha Viswanathan was born in this wedlock and Radha used to accompany her stepmother M.S. Subbulakshmi for her music concerts since the age of 5. Sadasivam was also known as a film producer and singer.
Thiagarajan Sadasivam was born on 4 September 1902. He was a native of Aangarai in Tiruchirapalli District. Tyagarajan and Mangalam Iyer were his parents and he was the third of 16 children of this couple. In his younger days, he was deeply influenced by the speeches and writings of great Indian leaders like Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, Lala Lajpat Rai etc and he too plunged into freedom struggle movement. He got influenced by the revolutionary ideas of Subramaniya Siva and tried to kill an Englishman for which he got jailed. He quit his studies and became a follower and closely worked with Bharata Samaj. But later he was deeply moved by the speeches of Mahatma Gandhi and Rajagopalachari, and adopted non-violence. He also participated in Swadesi movement.
He was first married to Apithakuchambal and had two daughters in this wedlock. He met M. S for the first time in 1936. They got married in 1940 and Subbulakshmi took care of both the daughters. He passed away in 1997, aged 95. He was an associate of C Rajagopalachari for 6 long decades. Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and M Karunanidhi were among the leading politicians who paid homage to this celebrated journalist at his home.
Published: N/A
Updated: March 20, 2016
