| 1974 |
Hon. Sri T.A. Pai |
| 1976 |
Sri C.V. Narasimhan |
| 1977 |
H.E. Sri Prabudas Patwari, Governor of Tamil Nadu |
| 1978 |
Dr. Raja Sir M.A. Muthiah Chettiar |
| 1979 |
Sri T. Ramaprasada Rao |
| 1980 |
Smt. Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya |
| 1981 |
Smt. Kapila Vatsyayan |
| 1982 |
Hon. Sri N.K.R Salve |
| 1983 |
Dr.V.K. Narayana Menon |
| 1984 |
Sangita Kalanidhi Dr.M.S. Subbulakshmi |
| 1985 |
Sangita Kalanidhi Smt.D.K Pattammal |
| 1986
|
Hon. Chief Justice M.N. Chandurkar |
| 1987 |
Pandit Ravi Shankar |
| 1988
|
Sangita Kalanidhi Dr.M. Balamurali Krishna |
| 1989
|
Sangita Kalanidhi Dr.M.L. Vasanthakumari |
| 1990 |
Vidvan Lalgudi G. Jayaraman |
| 1991 |
Sangita Kalanidhi Mysore
V. Doreswamy Iyengar |
| 1992 |
Dr. Raja Ramanna |
| 1993 |
Sri A. Chengal Reddy |
| 1994 |
Sri Vasant Sathe |
| 1995 |
Dr. M.S. Swaminathan |
| 1996 |
Sri T.N. Seshan |
| 1997 |
Sangita Kalanidhi Semmangudi
R. Srinivasa Iyer |
| 1998 |
Bharat Ratna C. Subramaniam |
| 1999 |
Sri C.V. Narasimhan (I.C.S. Retd.) |
| 2000 |
Sri R.V. Vaidyanatha Ayyar |
| 2001 |
Sri P. Shankar, I.A.S, Chief Secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu |
| 2002 |
Sangitakalanidhi
Prof. T.N. Krishnan |
| 2003
|
Sangitakalanidhi
Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna |
| 2004 |
Dr. S.S. Badrinath |
| 2005 |
Dr. N. Mahalingam |
| 2006 |
Sangita Kalanidhi
Sri Nedunuri Krishnamurthy |
| 2007 |
Sri. N. Gopalswami,
Chief Election Commissioner |
| 2008 |
Sri S. Ramadorai
Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. |
| 2009 |
Sri P.Chidambaram,
Honourable Union Home Minister |
| 2010 |
Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Nobel laureate and group leader & join head-structural studies,MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge,UK |
