Spotlight
Remembering Mani Madhava Chakyar

Madhava Chakyar was born on 15th
February.
A member of the clan of the
Puthiyedath Chakyar, Madhava Chakyar was born in a village near Quilandy in old
Malabar on 15 February 1899. Dancing and acting were in the blood of the
family, and Madhava Chakyar had his early training with his mother, whom he
lost at the age of nine, Kuniyil Narayanan Nambisan, and afterwards with his
uncles, Mani Neelakanta Chakyar, Parameswara Chakyar and Narayana Chakyar.
Along with his dance studies, he also learnt Sanskrit from Pannisseri Sankaran
Nambudripad and tarka sastra and vedanta from H. H. Rama Varma Parikshit
Tampuran of Cochin.
Madhava Chakyar had his arangetram at the age of 11 in Tiruvangayoor Siva
temple. From then on he began giving regular performances in various temples.
His family had hereditary rights to perform in 40 temples in north and central
Kerala. Some of them allowed only Chakyar Koothu to be performed under their
auspices, while others encouraged the entire gamut of Koodiyattam, including
the ritualistic performance of Anguliankam, and Mathavilasam.
Madhava Chakyar won high renown for the artistry of his performance in these
temples, as well as in many others. His forte was netraabhinaya, the expressive
use of eyes to demonstrate a wide range of emotions. Over the years, Chakyar
gave performances outside Kerala too -- in Madras, Bombay, Delhi, Benares,
Ujjain and Bhopal, and also before the senior Sankaracharya of Kanchi.
Chakyar taught at Kerala Kalamandalam where he trained advanced students in
Kathakali and Koodiyattam. He taught Kathakali also at the P. S.V. Natya
Sangham in Kottakkal, and the Gandhi Sevasadanam in Perur. For some time he
also taught Sanskrit at the Sanskrit school in Lakkiti where he had his home.
Many of his students, including some of his sons and nephews, went on to become
proficient performers in their own right in Kathakali and Koodiyattam. Among
them are: Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair, Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair, Anand
Sivaram and Madhava (Kathakali); sons P.K. Narayanan Nambiar and P.K.G. Nambiar
(Padhakam and Koothu); nephews Neelakantan Chakyar and Damodara Chakyar;
Ammannur Kochukuttan Chakyar, Kalamandalam Raman Chakyar, Kalamandalam Sivan
Namboodri, Kalamandalam Girija and Kalamandalam Shailaja (Koodiyattam).
He had foreign students too: Christopher Birski from Poland and Farley Richmond
from America.
In 1975 Madhava Chakyar published Natyakalpadrumam, a
comprehensive treatise in Malayalam on Koodiyattam. Hailed as the most
authoritative book on the subject, it deals with all aspects of Koodiyattam and
is as important for the scholar as for the interested layman. Other works of
his include Mathavilasam, a branch of Koodiyattam, and stage
manual for the third act of Naganandam and the second and
third acts of Sakuntalam.
Chakyar made several broadcasts over
All India Radio on Koodiyattam and also appeared on television in interview
programmes.
Many honours came to him from his early days, and before Independence these
were principally gifts of special gold ornaments from kings and temples.
Principal among these was the veera srinkhala (gold wristchain) which he
received from the Siva temple in Taliparamba when he was only 24. Taliparamba
has, from ancient times, been the centre for Koodiyattam. Rejection of a play
by the authorities in Taliparamba invariably doomed it. Story has it that when
King Kulasekhara Varman of Tiruvanchikulam presented two plays he had written
at the Taliparamba temple, the assembly rejected them. Undaunted, he had them
presented in his own realm, with additions, criticising the Namboodris of
Taliparamba for having taken to eating, cheating, sex and sycophancy instead of
following the traditional purushartha-s of dharma, artha, kama and moksha. The
Taliparamba veera srinkhala was important also from the point of view that,
unlike such other gifts, it could be worn before any king, for it was supposed
to be given by Siva himself, known in that temple as King of Kings.
Madhava Chakyar also received awards from the central Sangeet Natak Akademi,
the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Academy, the Kerala Kalamandalam and the Kalidas
Academy at Ujjain. The Government of India honoured him with a Padma Shri in
1974, while the Madhya Pradesh Government awarded him its prestigious Tulsi
Samman in 1986.
Madhava Chakyar was married to Kunjinmala Nagyaramma, a cousin. He had
four sons and daughters, of whom Narayanan Nambiar is a famous mizhavu player
and reciter of padhakam, while P.K.G. Nambiar is a Hindi pandit and a
proficient performer in Chakyar Koothu and Koodiyattam.
(Reproduced from Sruti 71, August 1990.)
By L.S. Rajagopalan
Posted by Sruti Magazine , February 14, 2012