Chitti Babu (musician) - Awards Titles & Honors

Awards Titles & Honors

Throughout his glittering career, he won many accolades regularly from almost all major cultural organizations in India and abroad. Many had also conferred numerous honorary titles on him (as is traditional to honor someone in India) and were presented to him by senior artistes, government officials, and other eminent people of his time, from all walks of life. Some of the more well-known ones are:

• Sangeet Natak Akademi award for 1990 – awarded by the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi in New Delhi and presented by Shri R. Venkataraman – the then President of India
• Kalaimamani – 1972 – Prestigious Award from Government of Tamil Nadu presented by the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Shri Karunanidhi
• Asthana Vidwan – Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams
• State Artiste – Government of Tamil Nadu – 1981-1987, presented by Shri MG Ramachandran, then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
• Telugu Velugu – Government of Andhra Pradesh by the then CM of AP in 1981
• Tantri Vilas – Government of Madhya Pradesh
• Spirit of Excellence Award in 1991-92 presented by the then Vice President of India Shri Shankar Dayal Sharma
• Sangeetha Choodamani - Krishna Gana Sabha - 1990
• Sangeetha Kala Nipuna - Mylapore Fine Arts Club - 1995

Chief among those was the title “Vainika Shikhamani” in 1967 presented by the then Maharajah of Mysore, Shri Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar, who on hearing Chitti Babu, in an exclusive performance at his palace, was so impressed by his versatility that, he removed a golden chain that he was personally wearing around his neck at the time, and presented it to Chitti Babu in a spontaneous gesture of appreciation. The chain also happened to have a gem-studded, gold pendant. Chitti Babu cherished this because Wodeyar was known to have been a great connoisseur of arts and music, and was also known as “a musician among princes and a prince among musicians”.