Prominent personalities of Kerala
Upathu Narayanan Nair

 

Upathu Narayanan Nair: Before we introduce readers to the personality featuring in this issue's 'Leading Lights' a brief introduction on Tholpavakoothu a type of puppetry practiced in Kerala would be an ideal thing to do.

The origin of the art form of Tholpavakoothu is believed to be of centuries old. In Malayalam, Thol means skin, Pava means doll and Koothu means play. The art form is also known as Nizhalattam (shadow play). Performed as a ritual on a special stage called Koothumadam (drama house) in the temples dedicated to Bhadrakali, puppets usually representing four characters from the epic Ramayana are arranged behind a long white screen, in front of bright wick lamps. Themes for performance are taken from Ramayana. The singer recites songs from the Kamba Ramayana (the Tamil version of Ramayana), and the puppets made of deerskin are made to move and dance. On completion of the song, a description of the puppet characters takes place. The performance starts late at night and goes up to early morning.

In Kerala, Tholpavakoothu is prevalent in the districts of Palakkad, Thrissur and Malappuram. A living exponent and a senior most authority of Tholpavakoothu is Upathu Narayanan Nair.

Mr. Narayanan Nair's father was Panchu Nair the renowned Tholpavakoothu artist, who naturally became his first teacher. From a young age itself, Narayanan Nair started assisting his father during puppetry performances. Narayanan Nair did his schooling up to the eighth standard and by the age of 16 lost his father. The situation warranted Narayanan Nair to eke out a living on his own. He decided to pursue Tholpavakoothu in an earnest manner and took up further training under Palappuram Rama Swamy Pulavar.

As part of his training in shadow puppetry, Narayanan Nair also learned Sanskrit from Sraivanath Raman Namboothiripadu. When he was around twenty years of age, Narayanan Nair got the calling to stage shadow puppetry, and thus began a saga of a long standing performance at a very young age, which took him around popular temples located at Puthanalkkal, Kayiliyadu, Aryankavu and Mulayankavu.

Narayanan Nair was recently honoured by the Kerala Folklore Academy for contributions to the art form of Tholpavakoothu. Not in the league of other performing art forms in terms of popularity, Mr. Narayanan Nair's mastery of the art form were mostly acknowledged in the local level, which is evident from the numerous awards and honours that he received from temple managements and cultural associations. Narayanan Nair was also invited to stage Tholpavakoothu in former Soviet Union and also at venues inside India like New Delhi and Bangalore.

In his pursuit of keeping the traditional excellence of Tholpavakoothu or shadow puppetry, this octogenarian has devoted about six decades of his life, during which he strived for sustaining the popularity of this unique form of puppetry.

Before we introduce readers to the personality featuring in this issue's 'Leading Lights' a brief introduction on Tholpavakoothu a type of puppetry practiced in Kerala would be an ideal thing to do.

The origin of the art form of Tholpavakoothu is believed to be of centuries old. In Malayalam, Thol means skin, Pava means doll and Koothu means play. The art form is also known as Nizhalattam (shadow play). Performed as a ritual on a special stage called Koothumadam (drama house) in the temples dedicated to Bhadrakali, puppets usually representing four characters from the epic Ramayana are arranged behind a long white screen, in front of bright wick lamps. Themes for performance are taken from Ramayana. The singer recites songs from the Kamba Ramayana (the Tamil version of Ramayana), and the puppets made of deerskin are made to move and dance. On completion of the song, a description of the puppet characters takes place. The performance starts late at night and goes up to early morning.

In Kerala, Tholpavakoothu is prevalent in the districts of Palakkad, Thrissur and Malappuram. A living exponent and a senior most authority of Tholpavakoothu is Upathu Narayanan Nair.

Mr. Narayanan Nair's father was Panchu Nair the renowned Tholpavakoothu artist, who naturally became his first teacher. From a young age itself, Narayanan Nair started assisting his father during puppetry performances. Narayanan Nair did his schooling up to the eighth standard and by the age of 16 lost his father. The situation warranted Narayanan Nair to eke out a living on his own. He decided to pursue Tholpavakoothu in an earnest manner and took up further training under Palappuram Rama Swamy Pulavar.

As part of his training in shadow puppetry, Narayanan Nair also learned Sanskrit from Sraivanath Raman Namboothiripadu. When he was around twenty years of age, Narayanan Nair got the calling to stage shadow puppetry, and thus began a saga of a long standing performance at a very young age, which took him around popular temples located at Puthanalkkal, Kayiliyadu, Aryankavu and Mulayankavu.

Narayanan Nair was recently honoured by the Kerala Folklore Academy for contributions to the art form of Tholpavakoothu. Not in the league of other performing art forms in terms of popularity, Mr. Narayanan Nair's mastery of the art form were mostly acknowledged in the local level, which is evident from the numerous awards and honours that he received from temple managements and cultural associations. Narayanan Nair was also invited to stage Tholpavakoothu in former Soviet Union and also at venues inside India like New Delhi and Bangalore.

In his pursuit of keeping the traditional excellence of Tholpavakoothu or shadow puppetry, this octogenarian has devoted about six decades of his life, during which he strived for sustaining the popularity of this unique form of puppetry.