Renowned musicologist TS Parthasarathy passed away in Chennai after a brief illness, family sources said.
Parthasarathy (93), who is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter, died on Friday, they said.
Parthasarathy mastered ancient music, dance scriptures and treatises with his knowledge of several Indian languages and was a source of inspiration to both veterans and performing artists.
As a great devotee of Tyagaraja, he had hundreds of the saint-composer's kritis engraved on the walls of his "Samadhi" at Tiruvaiyaru near Thanjavur.
His book on Tyagaraja's compositions (1967) in Tamil became almost a magnum opus and an authorative guide on the "sahitya" of the versatile composer for Carnatic music students and musicians in India and abroad.
Parthasarathy learnt music at an early age and later was closely associated with some of the great masters.
Besides, being a prolific writer on the contributions of musical trinity of Tyagarja, Muthuswami Dikshidar and Syama Shastri and musicians of yore, Parthasarathy presented several musical features for All India Radio over the years.
He was secretary of the famed Music Academy in Chennai for over a decade and was a recipient of several honours including from the Sangeet Natak Akademy.
{{/usCountry}}He was secretary of the famed Music Academy in Chennai for over a decade and was a recipient of several honours including from the Sangeet Natak Akademy.
{{/usCountry}}His works included translations of kritis and operas of the Trinity and of Tagore's plays from Bengali to Tamil.