King Chamaraja Wodeyar IX was also a patron of the fine arts and literature, having been tutored by his own court musicians Veena Sheshanna and Veena Subbanna. The king was well versed in the violin and often participated, along with other musicians, in violin performances at the Krishna temple located in the palace premises. He is known to have helped many budding artists, both by patronage of their talent and in their personal difficulties. He sponsored Mysore Vasudevacharya (who later became a famous musician) to train at Tiruvayyar under the famous Patnam Subramanya Iyer. He also formed the "Amateur Drama Club" to encourage young artists. However, he died at the early age of 32 while travelling in Kolkata. Veena Shamanna was the son of Rama Bhagavatar, an immigrant from Tanjore who came to Mysore during a famine, seeking royal patronage. His birth name was Venkata Subramanya. In 1876, Veena Shamanna was appointed court musician for his talent in both vocal and instrumental classical music. He was known as "Tala Brahma" for his mastery of the veena, violin, ghata and swarabhat. A conservative artist, he played by the norms of theorical classical music and was a tutor to the royal family. In honour of his achievements, a street in Mysore city was named after him. His compositions were published by his son Veena Subramanya Iyer in a book called "Sangeeta samayasara" in 1915.