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Dr Tiruvengadu Subramania Pillai (26.04.1906 - 18.02.1986)

Life History

The village of Tiruvengadu is today a major pilgrimage centre, famed as the “Budha Kshetram” among the Navagraha Kshetrams that cluster around Kumbakonam. Every day bus loads of pilgrims come in and having worshipped Budha, then hurriedly go around worshipping the principal deities viz., Swetharanayeswarar, His Consort Brahmavidyamba, Aghoramoorthy, who is yet another manifestation of Lord Shiva and Subramanya. The pressure on time is intense, for they need to get back to their bus in order to proceed to the next Navagraha shine, all part of a package tour. Rarely does a pilgrim pause to hear the nadhaswara music that is performed in front of the various sanctums in temple. In the past, Tiruvengadu or Swetharanyam was one of the great shrines of the Thanjavur – Kumbakonam area, which fostered Read More

Honours and Titles

Pillai was the Asthana Vidwan of the Dharmapuram Adheenam for 12 years. In addition he received regular honours from other mutts such as Thirupanandal and Tiruvavaduthurai.

Pillai was given the Title of “Swetharanya Punnaga Nadhamani” by the Paramacharya of Kanchi, Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi.

Inaugurating the Aradhana of Tyagaraja on 12th Feb 1956 at the Vivekananda Tamil Pathsala in Kuala Lumpur, he received the title of “Isai Nadha Jyoti” from Cho Ratna Sarma, the Secretary of the Tyagaraja Aradhana Committee.
During the same tour he also received the title of “Isai Ulaga Swara Raga Nada Thilagam”
He had received the Title of “Sangeetha Bhooshana Ratnakara nadhaswara Raja” from the citizens of Sri Lanka.
During yet another occasion he had received the titles of “Nadhaswara Kesari” and “Maha Maho Isai Nada Sarasara Mannar”
Pillai became the first nagaswarm artist to receive the Tamil Nadu State Sangeeta Nataka Mandram (later the Eyal Isai Nataka Mandram) award in 1965.
He was also the first nadhaswaram artist to receive the Central Sangeet Natak Academy’s “Fellowship” in 1978.