 He won the All India Radio gold medal in 1955 and the President of India award in 1958.Sankaran is the co-founder (in conjunction with vocalist Jon B. Higgins) of the Indian Music Program and a Professor of Music at York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where he has been teaching since 1971.In addition, he has also conducted workshops and seminars at Wesleyan University, the Berklee College of Music, the University of Michigan, the California Institute of the Arts, the University of Illinois, McMaster University, Cornell University, and Dalhousie University.