Sunlight Alone Doesn바카라�t Make Them Ebony

Hardly eight km south of the railway line at Vinayakan바카라�s Pullepadi home is Tripunithura that was the capital of the Cochin kingdom. A feudal hangover ref­uses to vacate the small town that is fast turning into a residential hub. Last Dec­ember, six months after dusky Vinayakan바카라�s honour-fetch­ing Kamma­ttipadam released depicting the uprooting of the downtrodden in a growing city, Tripunithura바카라�s most famous temple festival staged a sly drama ahead of a prestigious procession.

The aarattu ezhunnallippu, where the Poornathrayeesa deity is mounted atop cap­arisoned tuskers, features a traditi­o­nal ensemble. In its 2016 edition, the three-hour panchavadyam bore a histori­city: a Dalit percu­ssionist was among its 60-odd artistes playing those five ethnic instruments. This, 100 years after social refo­rmer Narayana Guru declared 바카라�We have no caste바카라� and eight decades since 바카라�avarna바카라� people secured temple entry.

Puthussery Ranjith faced rounds of painful suspense before he made it to the outer edge of a row of 15 timila percussi­onists at the post-dusk panchavadyam that rung curtains down on the eight-day ulsavam festivities on December 5. For, the youngster is a paraya바카라�a caste that gave English the word pariah. 바카라�A couple of artistes protes­ted. The organisers went into a dile­mma바카라�and I had to int­ervene,바카라� says activist-politician P. Vasu­devan.  바카라�Much of the joy of performing is lost when you have to fight caste iss­ues,바카라� chimes in Ranjith, who is from Choondal near Kunnamkulam in Thrissur district.

For 바카라�God바카라�s Own Country바카라�, temple festivals are much beyond religiosity. Called 바카라�season바카라�, the state바카라�s October-May months reverberate with age-old ense­mbles바카라�some of them requiring 150 players to sound full quorum. While panchavadyam바카라�the elaborate way it is heard today is a cen­tury old바카라�is relativ­ely new, a range of melams front-lined by the vertical chenda drum is pre-­medieval. Plus, there is the more individual-centric tayambaka spanning two hours, led by the tap-and-roll chenda, which is also the lead background inst­rument in Katha­kali, the state바카라�s famously sophistica­ted classical dance-drama.

The instruments used in the melam-­panchavadyam-tayambaka category are employed in religious rituals, making their practitioners customarily from temple-allied Marar, Poduval and Kurup communities. For those artistes conventionally considered 바카라�below바카라� this segment, casteism is capable of hurting them with its blunt slap or subtle mockery.

The right wing, in principle, condemns such incidents. The Hindu Aikya Vedi, for instance, accused a temple adminis­tration of caste bias at an ensemble presentation three years ago. In January 2014, a top Devaswom Board official told cymbals player Kallur Babu to skip the evening바카라�s panchavadyam of a temple in Guruvayur. For, the organisers at Edathirikavu learned he belonged to a 바카라�low caste바카라�. Leftist outfits dub such insta­nces as bids to preserve caste elitism.

Amid the political fight, the Dalit artis­tes tend to be cautious. Timila drummer Kallur Unni, a cousin of Babu, says the sophisticated organiser won바카라�t let out his community bias, still would side with upper-­caste artistes if an issue crops up. 바카라�It바카라�s wise to be choosy,바카라� adds the 50-year-old, who undertook higher studies from Kalamandalam Parameswara Marar.

That Unni바카라�s guru is a seasoned maestro from a traditional caste handling panchavadyam proves prejudices are not all-pervading. 바카라�I don바카라�t bother about the caste of my pupil,바카라� says sexagenarian Marar. 바카라�My community has had an age-old tryst with the art-forms. Naturally, we have an edge in mastery and aesthetics.바카라�

One of Unni바카라�s open promoters is from a forward caste. Tichoor Mohanan, an expo­nent of the hourglass-shaped eda­kka that adds vigour to panchavadyam, is a Poduval. 바카라�There is no major caste bias,바카라� he says. 바카라�Masters see some students of other castes stray into unorthodox styles after studies. That disillusions them.바카라�

Mohanan바카라�s central Kerala, yet, entertains a coexistence of communities in the field, unlike Malabar upstate. Chenda expert Payyavoor Narayana Marar says his native Kannur district and neighbouring Kasargod have tayambaka performers solely from forward communities. In the region바카라�s ritual art of Theyyam, where mostly tribals handle the weighty drum, 바카라�the use of chenda is quite outlandish for us Marars,바카라� he adds.

Much south, too, exists a similar dichotomy, says scholar-writer Manoj Kuroor. Travancore, he observes, has 바카라�far less바카라� casteist feelings for historical reasons, but the region바카라�s folk arts like Garudan Thullal and Mayilpeeli Thookam enjoy chenda support from backward communities alone. 바카라�Some of our big temples conduct major melams. They are led by Marars (despite the state government바카라�s 1982-founded Kshetra Kala Peethom at Vaikkom in the locality having churned out practitioners of temple ensembles and Sopanam music). 바카라�Of late, the arti­stes are brought from upper parts of Kerala,바카라� he says. 바카라�Mostly celebrities like Mattannur Sankarankutty Marar and Peruvanam Kuttan Marar (both Padma awardees in their sixties).바카라�

Kuttan Marar, in a television interview, was asked if melams have a caste undercurrent. 바카라�Well, if Marars and Poduvals alone continue to lead major ensembles, it바카라�s because they have a traditional advantage,바카라� he tells actor-activist V.K. Sreera­man, the host. Sreeraman has profiled a subaltern percussionist from a village not far from his native Kunnamkulam. Peradippuram Thevan, who died in Aug­ust 2015 at age 82, did perform tayam­baka around Peringode in his afterhours as a labourer. A performer of folk forms, his initiation into the chenda came from the region바카라�s richest Brahmin household: Poomully Mana, also known for its 20th-century patronage of the arts.

The pleasant paradox apart, woes punctuate Thevan바카라�s son Peringode Chandran바카라�s artistic career. Now 53, he did his timila studies from premier arts institute, Kala­mandalam, in the early 1980s. A couple of years down, at a famed temple festival in Palakkad district, Chandran faced humiliation when panchavad­yam anc­hor Pallavur Kunjukutta Marar, who invited the youngster, helplessly hin­ted at him to leave. 바카라�Some artistes aren바카라�t comfortable with me, I was told,바카라� he trails back to the episode at Nenmara-Vallangi festivity. All the same, it was Poomully바카라�s Neelakantan Namboodiripad who helped Chandran join Kalamandalam, after which his hig­her studies were under (late) Annama­nada Parameswara Marar.

In 1988, organisers scuttled a Chandran chenda concert the last moment at a middle-Kerala temple on lea­rning 바카라�I am a Dalit바카라�, triggering a protest tayambaka he performed outside the shrine. Ano­ther of Chandran바카라�s stir, this time led by Parameswara Marar, lasted for eight months, forcing open the Guruvayur Srikrishna temple gates for Dalits to perform a panchavadyam바카라�in July 1988.

Chandran wears a smile of victory when he recalls having anchored a show that made a Limca Book of Records entry for the largest panchavadyam바카라�with 293 participants. The Aug­ust 2012 venture was at the Peringode high school ground, where the artiste had undertaken initial timila lessons as a teenager. Chandran바카라�s brother Pering­ode Subramanian, 37, is an edakka player having gained name of late with his special team show. 바카라�Yes, 바카라�Edakka Vismayam바카라� is my sweet revenge,바카라� he says about the two-hour programme featuring youths.

Tripunithura바카라�s Vasudevan, who has penned a 2014 biography of Chandran, says he first interacted with the instrumentalist in 2005. 바카라�I told him (late) timila maestro Chottanikara Narayana Marar found him as a big talent,바카라� he rec­alls. 바카라�Overwhelmed, Chandran wept; he thought big names seldom noticed him.바카라�

Karukutty Sasi, a Dalit artiste, says his tayambakas are 바카라�sometimes viewed as the other바카라�s바카라� despite his completion of course from Kalamandalam a quarter century ago. Not different was the case with maddalam artiste Kadavallur Thami, who was a 바카라�victim of caste bias all his life바카라�, says critic Sreechithran M.J. about the Dalit who died last August. Rebel musician Njeralath Harigovindan has veered away from the Sopanam ren­di­t­ion of his iconic father Rama Poduval.

Amid these, another festival season passes with ensembles echoing across the state바카라�s humid days and nights.