How a temple turned into a nagaswaram and thavil school Premium

KG Group of Industries established a school for nagaswaram and thavil, offering free education and boarding for aspiring musicians.

It’s 3. 45 a.m., and there’s a chill in the air. In the tender light of the morning, students line up for their daily schedule — practising the nagaswaram and thavil in the Then Tirupati Lord Srinivasa temple in Jadayampalayam, near Mettupalayam. Till 6.30 a.m., the temple echoes with the sounds of the instruments.

These are students of the Then Tirupati Nagaswara and Thavil school, set up in 2008, seven years after the temple was built and consecrated as part of the prayer complex of the KG group of industries, Coimbatore. Says K.G. Baalakrishnan, chairman, KG Fabriks and founder of the school, “When the idea of doing something to foster art and culture came up, I decided to establish a nagaswaram and thavil school, because of the close connection of the instruments with temples.” 

Initially, only nagaswaram was taught. In 2010, thavil classes began. “Students are given free boarding and lodging, and a monthly allowance of Rs 1,000,” says Seshadri Bhattar, Principal of the school.

Pandanallur Subash has been teaching the  thavil at the school since inception. He is the paternal grandson of vidwan Pandanalllur Rathinam Pillai. “I first learnt thavil from my father’s guru Pandanallur Vaidyanatha Pillai and later from my father Pandanallur Muthappan, Thiruppangur Govindaraja Pillai and Thiruvalaputhur Kaliyamurthy. I picked up a lot from Thirunageswaram T.R Subramania Pillai as well,” says Subhash. He was in Singapore and Canada before moving to this school.

 Currently, 32 thavil and 14 nagaswara Students learn at the school. They begin the day practising in the Srinivasa temple from 4 a.m. to 6.30 a.m. They attend classes from 9.30 am to  4.30 pm, with a short break for lunch. From 6 p.m., they resume sadhakam at the temple. 

Both courses are of four years’ duration. In the first year, they are taught Pillayar paadam, talas, otha kai padam, rettai kai paadam, and so on. In the second year, they begin the silambu palagai. In the third year, they begin playing the thavil. External examiners Swamimalai Manimaran, Aduthurai Perumal Kovil D. Sankaran, Swamimamalai Sethuraman and Kottaiyur Chakrapani evaluate both nagaswaran and thavil students.

Paganeri Pillappan, a recipient of the Muthamizh Perarignar award from Tamil Isai Sangam, Madurai, is the nagaswaram teacher at the school. He used to run a gurukulam in his house in Madurai for 35 years, and trained over 200 students. When his wife passed, he moved to this school.