October 16 - Birthday Of Mahakavi Vallathol

 

Vallathol Narayana Menon – One among the modern ‘Kavithrayam’ (triumvirate) of Malayalam. Style, subjects and perspective – these three poets (Kumaran Ashan, Vallathol and Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer) had their own distinct foot marks. Among the three, Vallathol is remembered for the beauty of poetry for the usage of words. His poems belong to ‘Venmani’ style of writings and his early poems own romance and beauty as important aspects, a lot.

 

Great disciple of Gandhi – Through his words, he catalyzed the freedom struggle movement in Kerala a lot. Not only that, he was inspired a lot from Gandhiji’s words. He was so inspired by Gandhiji’s thoughts and actions that he accepted Bapu as his guru. When Gandhi came to Kerala in 1924, as a part of Vaikkom Satyagraha, Vallathol met him. ‘Ente Gurunathan’ (My Guru) is a very famous poem (Sahitya manjari – 4th part) written by Vallathol. In 1927 he made a small conversation with Gandhi at Thrissur guest house. Heartbroken with the death of Bapu, he wrote ‘Bappuji’ – included in Vilapa Kavya category of Malayalam literature. In 1922, he rejected the honours given by Prince by Wales. In 1928, he participated in Indian National Congress conference held at Kolkata.

 

Man behind Kathakali – Not only through literal pieces, he became popular through his renovation process of Kerala’s own trade mark – Kathakali. Now Kathakali is Keralite’s pride and whole credits go to this great lover of Kathakali, who through his hard work made Kathakali a popular art form, even among the foreigners. In 1930, he started a Kathakali learning centre at Kunnam Kulam, which later developed as the greatest art university of Kerala – Kerala Kalamandalam at Cheruthuruthy. He travelled throughout Indian and aboard to collect monetary fund for this organization. In 1948, Madras Government gave him the honour, ‘Asthana Kavi’ title and he continued in that position for next 5 years. In 1955, Indian Government honoured him with Padma Bhushan.

 

Kerala Valmiki – Apart from Valmiki Ramayanam, he has also contributed with translation works like - Abhijnana Shakunthalam, Rigvedam, Mathanga Leela, Padma Puranam, Markandeya Puranam, Vamana Puranam, Matshya Puranam, Ooru bhangam, Abhisheka Nadakam, Madhyama Viyogam and Swapna Vasavadatham. He completed the translation of Rig Veda at the age of 75. He died on March 13, 1958.  

Article Posted By : Sandhya RanilView All Articles

I am a great lover of his poems

Article Source :

http://www.veethi.com/articles/october-16---birthday-of-mahakavi-vallathol-article-2795.htm

Keywords :
Mahakavi Vallathol , Mahakavi Vallathol works , Kerala Kalamandalam

Comments

Submit an Article

Related Articles