Kalaimamani

Kalaimamani

The Kalaimamani (lit. 'Jewel of Arts') is the highest civilian award in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. These awards are given by the Tamil Nadu Iyal Isai Nataka Mandram (literature, music and theatre), a unit of the Directorate of Art and Culture, Government of Tamil Nadu, to recognise artists in the state for their achievements.

The Tamil Nadu government has appointed dancer Chitra Visweswaran as the secretary of Tamil Nadu Iyal Isai Nataka Manram. Film music director Deva is its chairman.

Awardees by year

1968–70

The individuals listed below were recipients of the Kalaimamani for the year 1958–69.

• K. S. Narayanaswamy (vainika)

1970–71

• M. S. Viswanathan (composer)

1971–72

The individuals listed below were recipients of the Kalaimamani for the year 1971–72.

• Madras A. Kannan (mridangam) • G. N. Dhandapani Iyer (veena)

1980–81

The individuals listed below were recipients of the Kalaimamani for the year 1980–81.

• Thanjavur R. Ramamoorthy (mridangam)

1981–82

The individuals listed below were recipients of the Kalaimamani for the year 1981–82.

• Madurai N. Krishnan • S. P. Balasubrahmanyam

1984–85

• Rajinikanth • Sabhapati Srinivas

1986–87

The individuals listed below were recipients of the Kalaimamani for the year 1986–87.

• K. J. Yesudas (singer) • S. Janaki (singer)

1987–88

• Tiruchi S. Swaminatha Iyer (carnatic)

1991–92

The individuals listed below were recipients of the Kalaimamani for the year 1991–92.

1992–93

The individuals listed below were recipients of the Kalaimamani for the year 1992–93.

1993–94

The individuals listed below were recipients of the Kalaimamani for the year 1993–94.

• R. Sarathkumar • Sukanya • S. Ve. Shekher • Kathadi Ramamurthy • Delhi Ganesh • T. P. Samikannu • R. V. Udayakumar

• Swarnalatha (singer) • D. K. Pattammal (carnatic lyricist) • Sudha Ragunathan (carnatic vocalist) • P. Ganammal (harmonium) • T. G. Subramaniam (thavil)

• L. S. Ramamirtham (tamil literature) • Malavika Sarukkai (bharatanatyam) • Sundararaj naidu (karagam artiste)

1994–95

The individuals listed below were recipients of the Kalaimamani for the year 1994–95.

• Arvind Swamy • Khushbu Sundar

1995–96

• P. Jayachandran • K. S. Chithra

• Revathi Ramachandran

1998

• Prashanth Thiagarajan • Meena • Vijay • Napoleon • Thangar Bachan • Palani Bharathi

• Priyadarsini Govind

1999

• Parvathi Ravi Ghantasala

2000

• Ajith Kumar • Devayani

• Nithyasree Mahadevan • Swarnalatha • Girija Ramaswamy

2001

• Vijayakanth • Murali • Rekha • Gundu Kalyanam • T. K. Pugazhendi • A. P. Komala • Radhu S. Radhakrishnan • T. K. S. Karuppaiah • 'Periyar' Rajavelu • V. Brinda

• Shashank Subramanyam • Vairamangalam Lakshmi Naryanan • Manakkal S. Rangarajan • M. A. Sundareswaran (violin) • Madurai T. Srinivasan (mridangam) • T. M. Krishnamurthy (mridangam) • R. Kalyanaraman (ghatam) • Rajalakshmi Narayanan (veena) • Seetha Doraiswamy (jalatarangam) • Adyar S. Jayaraman (nadhaswaram) • Thirunageswaram T. R. Govindarajan (thavil) • Valayapatti S. Malarvannan (thavil) • P. V. N. Nadhamani (clarinet) • K.Somu (devotional songs) • Karandhai G. Damodaran (devotional songs) • Rathinasabapathy Desikar (thevaram)

• Udipi Lakshmi Narayanan • M. V. Narasimhachari • Vasanthalakshmi Narasimhachari • Nellai D. Kannan • T. K. Padmanabhan • C. R. Radha Badhri

• A. Gunavathi (karagam) • V. Dakshinamurthy (street play).

2002

• Vijayashanti • Vinu Chakravarthy • Goundamani • Senthil • S. M. S. Vasanth • K. G. Typist' Gopu • Kovai Anuradha • K. S. Krishnan • Koothapiran

• T. S. Narayanasamy (vocal) • Meera Sivaramakrishnan (violin) • Ramani (veena) • Vaikkom R. Gopalakrishnan (ghatam) • S. Venkataraman (flute) • T. S. Vasudeva Rao (tabla) • A. C. Jayaraman (nadhaswaram) • S. Kasim (nadhaswaram) • Vazhuvur R. Manickavinayakam (light music) • Kovai Natarajan (harmonium)

• Krishnaveni Lakshmanan • Ananda Shankar Jayant • C. V. Chandrasekhar • Mannargudi N. Sakthivadivel • C. P. Venkatesan • Yogam Santhanam • Melattur S. Kumar

• Sarangapani (karagam) • P. A. Subbulakshmi Palaamadai (villupattu)

2003

• Prakash Raj • Simran • Kanaka • Vivek • L. Vaidyanathan • Gajapathy • Nanjil P. T. Sami • K. R. Rathinam

• Sulochana Pattabhiraman (vocal) • Nagai Muralidharan (violin) • S. Ravindaran (veena) • Mannargudi A. Eswaran (mridangam) • R. Raman (morsing) • H. Ramakrishnan (konnakkole) • Mannargudi M. S. K. Sankaranarayanan (nadhaswaram) • Denkanikotta Mani (thavil) • Purisai Arunagiri (devotional music)

• Thanjavur Rajalakshmi • G. Lakshmi Rajam • K. S. R. Aniruddha • Ramya Ramanarayan.

• Thenmozhi Rajendran (karagam) • S. Sivasankaran Pillai (Oyilattam)

• 'Rocket' Ramanathan (mimicry) • S. Parthasarathi (for spreading art and culture)

2004

The individuals listed below were recipients of the Kalaimamani for the year 2004.

• Vikram • Sneha • C. R. Saraswathi • P. Vasu

2005

The individuals listed below were recipients of the Kalaimamani for the year 2005.

• Suriya • Jyothika • Vadivelu • Bombay Gnanam

• G. Gnanasambandam • Silambarasan • Hariharan • Anuradha Sriram.

2006

The individuals listed below were recipients of the Kalaimamani for the year 2006.

• Jayam Ravi • Navya Nair • Trisha • Vishal • Silambarasan • Jiiva.

2009

The individuals listed below were recipients of the Kalaimamani for the year 2009.

• Vineeth • Vadivukkarasi • Asin Thottumkal • Nayanthara • Meera Jasmine • B. Saroja Devi • Devipriya • N. Srinivasan

• Aishwarya Dhanush • Sangeetha Kapilan

• Cheran • Sundar C

• Embar Kannan • Harris Jayaraj • Maharajapuram Srinivasan • Sivamani • Thalachangadu T. M. Ramanathan

2010

The individuals listed below were recipients of the Kalaimamani for the year 2010.

• Anushka Shetty • Tamannaah Bhatia • Arya

• Kalyani Menon (singer) • T. V. Gopalakrishnan (vocal) • K. N. Shashikiran (vocal) • Rajhesh vaidhya (veena) • Tiruvarur Swaminathan (flute)

2011

The individuals listed below were recipients of the Kalaimamani for the year 2011.

• R. Rajashekar • Kutti Padmini • P. Rajasekar • T. Venkatraman • P. Pandu • M. S. P. Kalaimani

• Keezhambur S. Shankarasubramaniyan • Kovi Manishekaran • Lena Tamizhvannan • Dr. Tiruppur Krishnan

2012

The individuals listed below were recipients of the Kalaimamani for the year 2012.

• S. S. Senbagamuthu • Rajasree • P. R. Varalakshmi • N. Mahalingam • N. S. Parvathy • S. S. Senbagamuthu

• Maharajapuram S. Ramachandran • Dr. Mahanathi Shobana Vignesh

• Anita Guha • Bala Devi Chandrashekar • Revathy Ramachandran

2013

The individuals listed below were recipients of the Kalaimamani for the year 2013.

• Prasanna • Nalini • Kanchana • Sharada • C. V. Chandramohan • R. Pandiarajan • T. P. Gajendran

• R. Krishnaraj

2014

The individuals listed below were recipients of the Kalaimamani for the year 2014.

• Karthi • Saravanan • M. S. Subramanian • U. M. Kannan • Thanjai P. K. Selvam • Ponvannan

2015

The individuals listed below were recipients of the Kalaimamani for the year 2015.

2016

The individuals listed below were recipients of the Kalaimamani for the year 2016.

• M. Sasikumar • M. S. Bhaskar • Thambi Ramaiah • Soori • M. Shanmugam • Srilekha Rajendran

• Jayanthi Ramachandra • Rajeswari Sainath

2017

The individuals listed below were recipients of the Kalaimamani for the year 2017.

• Priyamani • G. Sivan Srinivasan • K. Nallasivam • K. R. Singamuthu • R. S. Jayalatha

• S. Sowmya • Dr. Prema Rangarajan • R. Suryaprakash • Dr. T. Lokanatha Sharma • Sriram Parasuram

2018

The individuals listed below were recipients of the Kalaimamani for the year 2011.

• Srikanth • S. Varadarajan

• Dr. K. Ganesan • Nirmala Periyaswami • Manavai Ponmanickam

• S. J. Jananiy • Lakshmi Mohan • Vidya Subramanian • Shanmukapriya and Haripriya (Priya sisters) • Rajakumar Bharathi

• Thiruppanandhal S. Balasubramaniam • S. A. Karupayya

• Padmalakshmi Suresh • Nandini Ramani • Lavanya Shankar • Niveditha Parthasarathy • Binesh Mahadevan • Dr. Latha Rajendran • P. Muralidharan

2019

The individuals listed below were recipients of the Kalaimamani for the year 2019.

• Yogi Babu • Devadarshini • Nandhakumar • Shanthi Williams

• Liaquat Ali Khan

• Sujatha Mohan • Ananthu

• Madurai R. Muralidaran

2020

The individuals listed below were recipients of the Kalaimamani for the year 2020.

• Sivakarthikeyan • Aishwarya Rajesh • Jangiri Madhumitha

• Gautham Vasudev Menon

Shehnai Players & Hindustani Musicians & Playback Singers:

• Pandit Dr S Ballesh Bhajantri and • Dr Krishna Ballesh Bhajantri

• Rathnakumari K. Kalyanasundaram • Ranjani–Gayatri • S. V. Usha

• Thanjavur Murugaboopathi • Sairam Sundaram • T. R. Sundaresan • Ramesh Srinivasan

• A. Janarthanan • Kavitha Charles • Sreelatha Vinod • S. Vijayalakshmi Bhoopathi • Aparna Ramesh

2021

The individuals listed below were recipients of the Kalaimamani for the year 2021 and announced in September 2025.

• Sai Pallavi • S. J. Surya

• Anirudh Ravichander