Google pays tribute to M S Subbulakshmi by dedicating doodle on her 97th birthday

NEW DELHI: Google on Monday paid tribute to the doyen of Carnatic music M S Subbulakshmi by dedicating a colourful doodle on her 97th birthday.

The doodle shows the singer holding a tanpura with her trademark red and black bindi on her forehead, accompanied by a ghatam, tabla and mridangam.

Born in Madurai, Tamil Nadu on September 16, 1916, as Kunjamma, Subbulakshmi grew up surrounded by music. Initially, her mother Shanmugavadivu, a veena player, trained her.

As a singer she had fans in Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini Naidu, Lata Mangeshkar among many others.

She has been honoured with many prestigious awards including the Padma Bhushan, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Padma Vibhushan, Kalidas Samman, Sangeetha Kalanidhi and the Magsaysay award.

In 1996, she was honoured with the nation's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna. She is the only Carnatic musician to have received the award so far.

She stopped singing after her husband Thiyagaraja Sadasivam's death in 1997.

Subbulakshmi died on December 11, 2004.