Kondiah Raju was the Guru for both T.S.Subbiah and Mu.Ramalingam. Kondiah Raju was born in 1898 at Madras now renamed as Chennai. His father was a traditional medicine practitioner. The traditional vocation of the Raju’s was devotional paintings and Kondiah Raju’s father set him on the traditional path and he underwent training with a number of well known artists. Later he joined the Government College of Arts and Crafts in 1916 and was the state topper in the year 1918 in the art exams. Kondiah’s first stint as an artist was with a drama troupe “ Sri Thathuva Meenalochini Bala Sarguna Sabha” headed by the doyen of stage plays Palaniappa Pillai wherein he designed and created the backdrops for the plays staged by the troupe in India and Ceylon. The drama troupe fell upon hard times and was disbanded in 1942 at Kovilpatti.
Kondiah stayed on in Kovilpatti and started his painting studio “Devi Electrical Studio” and “Ambal Arts” Kondiah was a prolific and a very skilled artist. His Gajendra Moksham and Meenakshi Kalyanam which were later used in printing of calendars were the most sought after devotional images in South India. A number of young men joined his traditional gurukul to learn from the master and among his many talented pupils were the Uncle and nephew duo of Subbiah and Mu Ramalingam. The other talented pupils of Kondiah Raju who trained with Subbiah and Ramalingam were S.Meenakshisundaram, T.S. Arunachalam, the younger brother of T S Subbiah, M. Srinivasan and S. Shenbagaraman. After seeing the success of the master and his initial set of students a few more youngsters joined the gurukulam of Kondiah Raju. The disciples of Kondiah Raju were not only trained in art but also in photography, drama backdrops and illustrations. Notable among them were, M.C. Jeganathan, Parani Chithar, Bangarusamy, Muruga Boopathi ,Mahadevan and Papaiah. Kondiah Raju never married and devoted his entire life and energy to art.
Like any Gurukul the disciples of Kondiah raju stayed with the master and fondly called him as “Anna or Elder Brother”.
The task of housing and feeding the students was undertaken ably by the sister of Kondiah Raju who literally was a mother to the disciples. The family members of Kondiah Raju’s sister also joined in this task whole heartedly.
A concise history of the calendar art painting industry focusing on Kondiah Raju his disciples and Mu. Ramalingam has been written as a chapter “Suitable for framing” by “Stephen R Inglis” in a well researched book “Media and the transformation of Religion in South Asia” edited by Lawrence Babb et al, published by Motilal Banarasidas in the year 1995
