Pillai had many fans in Sri Lanka and Far East. From the records available with the family, it would appear that he travelled to Sri Lanka some time in 1940s. But it was his 1955/56 visit to the Far East that drew media attention.

On 3rd Nov 1955, Pillai issued a communiqué to the effect that he and his troupe were embarking on a tour to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Malacca. On Nov 8th, 1955 a send off party was organised at the residence of SPCA Inspector T Durairaj in Mayavaram, which was attended by all the bigwigs of the locality. All those who came to the party saw off Pillai at the station. On 9th Nov, Pillai and his troupe embarked by steamer for the Federated Malay States. Kalki, writing on the trip had this to say: “If we hum a tune when we are half asleep, when we stroll or when we are reading, it must invariably be one made famous by Nadhaswara Raja Tiruvengadu TP Subramaniam. There is so much of joy in his playing of the nadhaswaram. The people of Malaya now have an opportunity to listen to such nectarine music. We expect that the people of the country will make full use of this opportunity.”

On 30th Nov, Pillai gave a performance at the “Happy World Stadium”. This was widely advertised and from it we learnt that tavil accompaniment for Pillai was provided by Koorainadu Govindaraja. Tickets for the performance were priced at $5, $3 and $2 and sold in advance. Billboards declared Pillai to be “Magudi Mannan” (King of magudi) and stated that he had been honoured by the President of India, Rajen Babu and Pt Jawaharlal Nehru. Interestingly, a poster for Pillai’s Malaya tour of 1955 declared that he was honoured by Jawaharlal Nehru and Babu Rajendra Prasad. But there are no records of a national honour being conferred on him during that period. Perhaps it refers to a “Memento” given during the Avadi Congress Session, though the President of India would not have been present.

Pillai’s tour of the Federated Malay States lasted for 6 months. On Feb 12th, 1956, Pillai inaugurated the Thyagaraja Aradhana at the Vivekananda Tamil Pathashala in Kuala Lumpur. He was given the “Isai Nadha Jyoti” on the occasion. The program which began at 4.30 pm on the 12th, with song recitals by several local musicians, was followed at 10 pm by Pillai’s performance which concluded at 12.30 am. The title was conferred on him. Newspaper reports revealed that the audience stayed on, till the very end, so enraptured were they by Pillai’s music.

In May 1956, Pillai’s son Selvarathnam who had learnt music from CS Jayaraman’s father, Madurai Mani Iyer and TN Rajarathnam Pillai, gave a vocal performance under the auspices of the Bharat Fine Arts Society. This too was widely covered by the press. Selvarathnam was given a medal.

Pillai boarded the ship SS State of Madras on 25th May 1956 at Singapore at the conclusion of a long and successful trip. He was seen off at the port by a group of distinguished Indians, which included VE Shanmugam Chettiar, JP, President of the Singapore Tamil Representative Council, V Pakirisamy, OBE and Prominent members of Nagarathar Community in Singapore. Pillai once again went on a tour of the Far East in 1975.