Tirumakudalu Chowdiah () (1895 – 19 January 1967) was a violin maestro from India in the Carnatic classical tradition. Early years Chowdiah, was born in Tirumakudalu Narsipur village on the banks of the river Kaveri near Mysore in a Vokkaliga family. He became a disciple of Mysore Royal Court musician, Ganavisharadha Bidaram Krishnappa in 1910 and underwent a very rigorous and disciplined training until 1918 in the gurukula system. Career With his devoted practice, Chowdiah became a very great violinist. The name Chowdiah and the violin were synonymous with each other. With Bidaram Krishnappa's encouragement, courage and mastery, Chowdiah, earned fame, affection and respect from all his great contemporaries. All musicians desired to have him as their violin accompanist. It is said that the brilliant vocalist G. N. Balasubramaniam would request sabha secretaries, who wanted to arrange his concert, that they should talk to Chowdiah's first to make sure he is available to accompany on violin. By devoted practice, application, grit and learning, Chowdiah rose to Himalayan heights in the world of Carnatic music. As a guru Chowdiah would not sit with his disciples during fixed hours a standard practice in those days. As a guru he taught many of his disciples for about 8–10 years. He would enforce a sense of discipline that required the shishyas wake up early in the morning everyday and practice akara sadhana. His disciples were expected to practice Sarale in six tempos. Only one raga had to be practised in any given month, for up to four hours a day. This kind of practice was the means of developing voice culture and the deep knowledge of swaras (i.e. notes), essential to gain vast vidwath. Disciples had to practice varnams in three tempos and sing them to his satisfaction. This was the discipline that Chowdiah inherited from his guru, Bidaram Krishnappa, and he diligently passed on the same to his disciples. Chowdiah had many disciples. The list included the likes of R. K. Venkatarama Sastry (violin), V. Ramarathnam (vocal), Kandadevi S Alagiriswamy (1925–2000; violin), Palghat Mani Iyer (violin), Chennai V. Sethuramaiah (violin) and others. Later, Ramanujam, Madurai Venugopal, Chinnappa, H. R. Seetharama Shastri and others became disciples of Chowdiah. As a guru Chowdiah was very affectionate towards his disciples. Chowdiah was known for his hospitality and he always hosted many musicians when they visited Mysore. He would house them in a house that was located