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Sri C.S. Ayyar worked all his life, from the time of graduation with a degree in mathematics from Presidency College, Madras, to the time of retiring from service as the Accountant General in the Government Railway Service. His books are the result of his passion for carnatic music in general and the violin in particular, which resulted in an essentially parallel life outside his career in the railways. The scientific approach in his expositions on carnatic music is only to be expected, considering that his younger brother C.V. Raman and his son S. Chandrasekhar are the two Indian physicists to have been awarded the Nobel Prize. He has contributed articles on music in various journals and magazines. His books on music include two volumes, - 108 kritis and 120 kritis respectively, of Thyagaraja, - in Devanagari script with gamaka-notations. His lecture-demonstrations were well received and commended. C.S. Ayyar was probably proudest of the fact that he was the prathama-sishya of Sangita Kalanidhi Sri T.S. Sabesa Iyer. He later enlarged his repertoire under the tutelage of Vidwan Sri Tiruparkadal Srinivasa Iyengar, an eminent violinist of his times. Ayyar did rigorous sadhaka on the violin. C.S. Ayyar was one of the founder-members and a member of the Experts’ Committee of The Madras Music Academy.