Honouring a devotee of arts
G.S. PAUL
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The International Centre for Koodiyattom, Thripunithura, honoured L.S. Rajagopalan for his invaluable contributions to art forms in Kerala.
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Photo: K.K. Najeeb
PHILOSOPHER AND GUIDE: L.S. Rajagopalan.
By selecting L.S. Rajagopalan for its Decennial Award, the International Centre for Koodiyattom, Thripunithura, has brought to the limelight an octogenarian scholar whose contributions to art forms in Kerala and Koodiyattom, in particular, are invaluable. "It's rather unusual that a humble devotee of art like me is being honoured with such an award that is usually given to performers," said Rajagopalan after receiving the award at Government Sanskrit College, Thripunithura.
Lakshmi Nivas in Ganapathy Agraharam, Thrissur, is a beehive of activities with performers, scholars, and research students from all over the world. For them, he is both a philosopher and guide. Rajagopalan said that it was his strong grounding in music that turned him into a devotee of the arts. And for this, he owed much to his father. A knowledge of Sanskrit, acquired during his student days, was another advantage. `Mudrarakshasam', `Kumarasambhavam' and `Sakuntalam' were his favourites.
The journals published by Music Academy, Chennai, fascinated him and before long he became a regular contributor. On an invitation from Dr. V. Raghavan, he presented a paper on Ramapanivadan's composition `Sivageethi.' Soon, he became a regular invitee at the Academy.
Rajagopalan also contributed to `Sangeet Natak,' a journal of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, Delhi.
Documenting art forms
His pieces on percussion ensembles of Kerala, folk theatre forms such as Kakkarassi Natakam, Pulluvan Pattu, Pava Kathakali and so on were authentic documentations of the art forms and attracted many researchers to Kerala.
"It was the music of Koodiyattom that attracted me to the art form," he said. According to him, the style of recitation may be assigned a place mid-way between the chanting of Rig Veda and that of Sama Veda. He succeeded in establishing the similarity of the names of ragas used in Koodiyattom and the names of Tamil panns.
Rajagopalan directed the only Kathakali play in Tamil. Arunachala kavi's `Ramanatakam' was produced with the help of the maestro M.P.S. Namboodiri and was staged by the Kathakali Club of Thrissur.
`Women's Role in Koodiyattom' and `Koodiyattom: Preliminaries and Rituals' are the two books authored by Rajagopalan.
Even at the age of 86, L.S. continues to be a beacon for the fraternity of performing artistes of all genres.
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