Voice of wisdom
V. KALADHARAN
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Killimangalam Vasudevan Nambudiripad has made invaluable contributions to the traditional art forms of Kerala.
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Nambudiripad is vehement in his arguments on the form and content of performing arts.
VISIONARY AND SCHOLAR: Killimangalam Vasudevan Nambudiripad.
It is an interesting paradox that Kerala, with its variegated genres of performing arts, has never had a grand lineage of art-historians and aesthetes. Some of the feudal patrons of traditional arts were undoubtedly connoisseurs and a few among them were informed critics too. Yet they lacked a systematic knowledge of the history and aesthetics of the art forms.
Following the cultural renaissance in Kerala in the early decades of the last century, which was spearheaded by eminent poets such as Vallathol, several art-historians and academicians emerged. Of them, K.P.S. Menon, author of `Kathakalirangam,' is immortal .
Among his successors, Killimangalam Vasudevan Nambudiripad, deserves special mention. This year the Painkulam Rama Chakiyar Memorial Award was conferred on him in recognition of his contributions to Koodiyattom. Manakkulam Mukunda Raja Award instituted by Kerala Kalamandalam came his way years ago. He was earlier granted a fellowship by the Department of Culture, Government of India, for a critical study on Natankusa.
Killimangalam Mana in Killimangalam village of Thrissur district is well known for giving the cultural world generation after generation of Sanskrit scholars. And Vasudevan Nambudiripad has inherited the scholarship of his ancestors.
Turning point
At poet Vallathol's initiative, he came to be associated with Kerala Kalamandalam in the late Fifties and soon went on to become its art superintendent.
Already an ardent lover of Kathakali and similar classical arts, Nambudiripad could hone his aesthetic perceptions and analytical skills at Kalamandalam. On the eve of the re-structuring of Mohiniyattom and in the systematisation of its repertoire at Kalamandalam, Nambudiripad was able to share his creative ideas with the surviving titans in the field. He is probably the best advocate of its revival and has been defending its `refined style' against criticism.
Similarly when Koodiyattom was added to Kalamandalam's curriculum in 1965, Nambudiripad not only substantiated the move with progressive ideas, but also expressed his apprehensions about its future sans a secular dimension.
The institutionalisation of performing arts facilitated consistent and creative interaction between our artistes and the rest of the world. For nearly three decades, Nambudiripad became more than a mediator between them and the artiste-community.
His role as cultural facilitator helped foster the international cultural exchange programmes of Kalamandalam. Nambudiripad is vehement in his arguments on the form and content of performing arts like Koodiyattom, Kathakali and Mohiniyattom.
He does not approve of the accusation that the identity of Koodiyattom is threatened by an application of the techniques of Kathakali.
"Only after defining in unambiguous terms the identity of Koodiyattom, can one raise such a criticism. For instance, the audio-visual integration in Koodiyattom might be an inspiration from Kathakali. Isn't this a welcome refinement?" he asks.
Nambudiripad was a supporter of the aesthetic visions of the late Vazhenkada Kunju Nair whose life was an artistic endeavour to plug the loopholes between Kathakali texts and performance-culture.
Interactive bond
He often speaks of an interactive bond between the storylines of Kathakali plays and the performance per se gaining dominance alternatively against the changing cultural and aesthetic climates over a long period of time.
The insider-outsider dichotomy binding to an art-critic watching a recital has kindled his thoughts on art appreciation.
Nambudiripad lays stress on the need for participant observation and dispassionate appraisal on the part of the critic. In the development of traditional arts, Nambudiripad pinpoints the role of the spectator's text along with that of the author and the practitioner.
To him, it is therefore a triangular process. In one of his insightful essays on `Saatwikabhinaya' and `Saatwikabhavas,' Nambudiripad zeroes in on to the links between the two, based on a close reading of Bharata's `Naatyasastra.'
Nambudiripad also appreciates classical ballads and contemporary dance. In short, he is a sensitive scholar with classical tastes and a global outlook.
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