Narasinghapettai nagaswaram bags GI tag

Nagaswaram players used the short timiri-type nagaswaram before the pari nagaswaram was made.

Nagaswaram, the musical instrument, made in Narasinghapettai in Thanjavur district has been granted the Geographical Indication (GI) tag based on the application filed by the Thanjavur Musical Instruments Workers Co-operative Cottage Industrial Society Ltd.

“This will help the artisans receive assistance from the Indian government and other benefits,” said advocate P. Sanjay Gandhi, who filed the application on behalf of the Society, and secured GI tag for many unique products of Tamil Nadu.

Narasinghapettai, a village near Thiruvidaimarudur, has an inseparable place in the world of Carnatic music. Here live families of artisans who excel in making the nagaswaram. It was N.G.N. Ranganatha Achari, who designed the pari nagaswaram, now used by nagaswaram players, at the request of nagaswaram wizard Thiruvavaduthurai T.N. Rajarathinam Pillai.

“We hope that the GI tag will further boost our trade,” said S. Gunasekaran, one of the nagaswaram makers of Narasinghapettai.

Nagaswaram players used the short timiri-type nagaswaram before the pari nagaswaram was made. “Suddha madhymam cannot be played in timiri nagaswaram. Musicians would play it by instinct. That was why Rajarathinam Pillai decided to design an instrument that is capable of producing suddha madhymam,” said nagaswaram player Injukudi M. Mariappan.

He explained that timiri type also demanded physical effort from the nagaswaram players and a lot of them suffered from a lot of ailments, particularly hernia, as a result.