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Conserving an artistic heritage

Since its advent in the Koodiyattom scenario in 2001, UNESCO’s activities indicate that the organisation is not prepared to leave any stone unturned to protect the ‘oral and intangible heritage of the mankind.’ Numerous projects over the past six years have evoked enthusiasm among practitioners of the art form. One recent effort was the attempt to conserve and preserve palm-leaf manuscripts. The Chakyar community, who had practised the art form as a living heritage of theirs, had taken special care to preserve all their works for posterity by documenting the works on palm leaves. And these were bequeathed from generation to generation.

The five-day workshop organised by Ammannur Chachu Chakyar Smaraka Gurukulam, Irinjalakuda, sought to create awareness among the practitioners of Koodiyattom about this priceless treasure. Held in collaboration with UNESCO, Japan Funds-In-Trust and National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM), New Delhi, participants included representatives from Kalamandalam Deemed University, Margi, Paimkulam Rama Chakyar Smaraka Kala Peedhom, Nepathya, Moozhikulam and Chathakudam Krishnan Nambiar Mizhavu Kalari.

The Manuscript Mission lent the services of its sonservators –Neeraja Gopi and Viabhav Chouhan – whose main task was to educate the participants about the techniques of palm-leaf preservation. The Manuscript Mission has defined that only a 75-year-old important document can be considered as a ‘manuscript.’ The manuscripts fall into different categories of media among which the palm-leaf is the one peculiar to South India. Birch barks, processed clothes and paper were widely used in the North.

Lectures and demonstrations were devoted to storage and reorganisation of the manuscripts. Converting a bad form of storage to a good one was called reorganisation. It started with documentation of the manuscript, both photo and textual. Thereafter it has to be cleaned, first physically and then with solvents. After treatment with insect repellents and fumigation, special kind of papers and wooden supports are used to pack manuscripts. In this connection, Chouhan added that damages caused to the manuscripts were mainly due to mishandling. The practical sessions included mock drills for protecting the manuscripts in the event of flood and fire.

The NMM, established in 2003, has 47 Manuscript Resource Centres and 35 Manuscript Conservation Centres across the country. In Kerala, the centres are in Thiruvananthapuram, Thripunithura and Tirur. Over the past three years, the centres have identified and processed 10 lakh manuscripts. According to G. Venu, secretary of the Gurukulam, the second stage of the project involved distribution of material to families that possessed manuscripts for the preservation of those documents. The workshop turned practically into a Koodiyattom festival with performances in the night. The latest choreography of the Gurukulam, ‘Oorubhangam,’ Nangiarkoothu by Aparna Nangiar, ‘Himakaram’ by Kuttan Chakyar, Vasanthaka’s purappad in Manthrankam by Kalamandalam Rama Chakyar and Mizhavil Thayampaka by Kalamandalam Rajeev and party were the main presentations.

A host of scholars, including Vice-Chancellor of Kalamandalam University K.G. Poulose gave illuminating lectures on topics related to Koodiyattom on all the days.

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