Mani Madhava Chakyar - Reforming The Art Form

Reforming The Art Form

He brought Chakyar Koothu and Koodiyattam outside s of Hindu temples. In 1949 he performed Chakyar Koothu for All India Radio, which created history since that was the first time the art was performed outside Koothambalam. In 1955, under the leadership of the Guru, Kutiyattam was performed outside the temple for the first time in his village Killikkurussimangalam. For performing the art forms outside the temples he faced lot of problems from the hardline Chakyar community. In an interview Guru remembered

"My own people condemned my action (performing Koothu and Kutiyattam outside the precincts of the temples), Once, after I had given performances at Vaikom, they even thought about excommunicating me. I desired that this art should survive the test of time. That was precisely why I ventured outside the temple"

In 1962, under the leadership of Dr. V. Raghavan- noted art and Sanskrit scholar; Sanskrit Ranga of Madrass, invited Guru Mani Madhava Chakyar to perform Kutiyattam in Chennai. Thus for the first time in the history Kutiyattam was performed outside Kerala by his tropue. They presented at Madras on three nights, Kutiyattam scenes from three plays Abhiṣeka, Subhadrādhanañjaya and Nāgānda. The performance of the maestro Maani Maadhava Chakyar made great impact on the people and art critics so that, Kutiyattam and Mani Madhava Chakyar became famous outside Kerala also. People outside Kerala was able to witness the extraordinary talent of the maestro. Then Mani Madhava Chakyar was invited and performed Kutiyattam at various places of North India like New Delhi and Banaras (1964). It made the critic to accept his authority in Rasa Abhinaya, Natyasastra and Kutiyattam.

After Mani Madhava Chakyar's first tour to New Delhi, he was awarded immediately with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1964 for his contributions to Chakyar Koothu and Kutiyattam, which became the first national recognition to the maestro and the art form. His supremacy in Rasa-abhinaya and Netrabhinaya and Kutiyattam became very famous and attracted lot of people towards the art form.

He performed Kudiyattam all over India and popularized the same. He along with his troop did Koodiyattam performance in places like Madras (1962, 1973 & 1977), Madhura (1962), New Delhi (1964, 1966, 1974, 1979 & 1983), Varanasi (1964 & 1979), Bombay (1973 & 1977), Ujjain (1982), Bhopal (1987) etc.

The President of India, scholar and philosopher, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan invited him to perform Kutiyattam at Rashtrapati Bhavan in 1964 and was impressed by the Guru's exceptional acting skill. His Kutiyattam performances, lectures and demonstrations at well known centres like Madras Music Academy in Chennai, International Centre for Kathakali in New Delhi, Experimental theatre in New Delhi and Bombay, National Centre for the Performing Arts in Bombay fetched wide popularity and recognition for his Abhinaya and Kutiyattam.

He choreographed and directed acts of the plays like Kalidasa's Abhijñānaśākuntala, Vikramorvaśīya and Mālavikāgnimitra ; Bhasa's Swapnavāsavadatta and Pancharātra; Harsha's Nagananda for the first time in the history of Koodiyattam. He along with his troupe performed these Kutiyattams all over India.

When his guru, His Highness Darsanakalanidhi Rama Varma Parikshith Thampuran wrote a new Sanskrit champu prabandha called Prahlādacharita and requested senior artists to study and perform the same on the Chakyar Koothu stage, they said it was impossible for them to stage such a new prabandha. Then the guru asked Mani Madhava Chakiar, who was then a comparatively young artist, to try. He agreed and studied a part of the prabandha within one night and performed the same on the next day at Tripunithura - the then capital of Cochin state (1962). The incident made the scholars to accept his mastery over both Sanskrit and the classical art form. After some months, he performed entire Prahlādacharita at the same stage.

He performed Chakyar Koothu and Koodiyattam for All India Radio and Doordarshan for the first time, which helped to attract thousands of listeners to these traditional art forms. It was he who started demonstrations in Kudiyattam to popularise the same.