Chitrai Nayak, the original owner of the instrument, is said to have played it at the wedding of the famous poet Subramaniam Bharathi.
It is still in good condition and it is said that Chitrai Nayak, a Nagaswaram player and instrument owner, played it at the wedding of the national poet Subramaniam Bharathi.
“Chitrai Nayakar was my grandfather, and this instrument was gifted to me by my mother Meenakshi in 1962 when I was married. My grandfather told my mother that he played at Bharathiyar’s wedding,” said lawyer Ramani Natarajan. Said, who now preserve the instrument.
it’s a small Timiri-Type Nagaswaram, which is capable of producing high pitch music. lower part – schedule – And the upper part of the instrument is made of ivory, and such instruments were usually held by musicians of great talent and fame. Chitrai Nayakar died in 1925.
“My mother told me that the instruments were decorated with gold filigree patterns, but they were lost after her death,” said Ms Natarajan.
According to AN Sattanathan, the first chairman of the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes Commission, the instrument was gifted to Chitrai Nayakar by the Maharaja of Mysore, probably by Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV.
Late Sattanathan was Ms. Natarajan’s father; His father Arumuga Nayakar was also a Nagaswaram player. Sattanathan has written in detail about his father-in-law Chitrai Nayakar in his autobiography, Simply Speaking: The Story of a Shudra,
This book provides a rare insight into the world of the exponents of Nagaswaram apart from Isai Vellalas of the entire Thanjavur district. Both Chitrai Nayak and Arumuga Nayak belong to the Padayachi community of Tirunelveli district. Apart from Padyachis, Kambar, Dalit and Sunnambu Paravar communities also play Nagaswaram and Thavil.
In his book, Sattanathan writes that Chitrai Nayak, a native of Sundarapandiyapuram in Tirunelveli, was the most successful person to practice music in the district.
“He, in his day, rose to great fame as a Nagaswaram virtuoso. He performed by invitation at the court of the Maharaja of Mysore and as far away as the Murugan Temple at Kathirgam in Sri Lanka,” wrote Sattanathan.
Chitrai Nayakar’s fame is explained by the fact that his annual income was ₹2,000, when the average annual income of professional musicians in those days was barely ₹700. “His income increased steadily and was between ₹3,000 and ₹4,000 for about 12 years before the inevitable decline,” Sattanathan said in his book.
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