Walking down memory lane with nagaswaram exponent SRG Rajanna

Tracing SRG Rajanna’s musical journey

Thirusemponpalli, a small town in Nagapattinam district, secured a place in the cultural history of Tamil Nadu, thanks to the hymns of Saivaite minstrels Thirunavukkarasar and Thirugnanasambandar, who had sung in praise of Swarnapureeswarar, the presiding deity of the local temple. It is known as Sembanarkoil, a corruption of Semponnarkoil. Semponnar is the Tamil version of the Sanskrit word Swarnapureeswarar.

In the 20th century, the town became synonymous with nagaswaram as it is the birthplace of Semponnarkoil Ramasamy Pillai, an exponent of rakthi melam — playing jathis and no sahityam — and the first nagaswara maestro to cut a disc, which is still available for listeners. 

Writing in Cauvery, a literary magazine published from Kumbakonam, Nagaswaram wizard Thiruvavaduthurai T.N. Rajarathinam Pillai had said since the age of 12 he had listened to Semponnarkoil Ramasamy Pillai, Nagore Subbaiah Pillai and Mannargudi Chinna Pakkiri. 

“I first listened to Rajarathinam Pillai playing the nagaswaram when I was hardly 11. I would go to Thiruvavaduthurai Mutt with my father S.R. Govindasamy Pillai, who was one of the asthana vidwans,” recalls SRG Rajanna, who received the Mumbai-based Sri Shanmukhananda Sabha’s National Eminence Award for nagaswaram to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Rajrathinam Pillai. He was presented a cash award, a gold chain and gold-plated nagaswaram and a kuthuvilakku. “We are indebted to the sabha for organising such an event to honour Rajarathinam Pillai,” he says.

A conversation with Rajanna turns the clock back to the period when music echoed in the nook and crannies of the composite Thanjavur district. Great musicians of the yesteryear, particularly nagaswaram and thavil players, emerge before your eyes.

“Everyone waxes eloquence on his Thodi. But every raga assumed unfathomable depth and beauty when he played. How can I even explain it? It is like the cool air from an air-conditioner on a hot day,” says Rajanna, who had also played with Rajarathinam Pillai in Thiruvavaduthurai. His father and Thiruvidamaruthur Veerusami Pillai were among the adheena vidwans of Thiruvavaduthurai

In his book, T.N. Rajarathinam Pillai, Charisma, Caste Rivalry and the Contested Past in South Indian Music, Japanese scholar Terada Yoshitaka writes, “two brothers may play nagaswarams together as a team and if one of the brothers is known as a particularly good player, his name is sometimes added to the name of the ensemble, as seen in the case of the Semponnarkoil Govindasamy Brothers.”