Veena Sheshanna, considered one of the greatest exponents of the veena in India, was born in Mysore in 1852 to Bakshi Chikkaramappa, a court musician of King Krishnaraja Wodeyar III. Once a visiting musician sang a composition ("pallavi") and challenged the musicians in the king's court to follow. While none of the senior musicians could sing that composition, Sheshanna, who was still a boy, sang it correctly. Impressed, the king gave the boy a chain of pearls he was wearing and a pair of shawls. It was during the rule of King Chamaraja Wodeyar IX in 1882 that Sheshanna was appointed court musician. His achievements in classical music won Mysore a premier place in the art of playing the veena and he was given the title "Vainika Shikhamani" by King Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV. Veena Sheshanna won laurels and titles from kings and dignitaries including the kings of Travencore, Baroda and Tanjore. He played the veena at the Indian National Congress in Belagavi in 1924 to an audience comprising such leaders as Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru and others and received the title "Vainika Chakravarthi". A photograph of Veena Sheshanna was taken by King George V to be placed in the art gallery at Buckingham Palace. Sheshanna was proficient at other instruments, including the violin, swarabhat, rudra veena, jalatarang and even the piano, in which he is known to have composed in English. His compositions are largely in Telugu and Kannada, though he also occasionally composed in Hindi.