The Hindu : AIR bid to preserve Renaissance plays

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 28, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

AIR bid to preserve Renaissance plays

By T. Ramavarman

THRISSUR DEC. 27. In a commendable initiative, All India Radio (AIR) has launched an effort to produce radio plays based on the four famous literary masterpieces of Kerala's Renaissance period and to preserve the fast-fading link to the vibrant spirit of resistance that could cleanse the State from many of its social evils.

According to AIR sources, the four radio plays to be produced are based on M. R. Bhattathirippad's `Marakkudakkullile Mahanarakam', Premji's `Rithumathi', V. T. Bhattathirippad's `Adukkalayil Ninnum Arangathekku' and Mutharingode Bhavathathran Namboodirippad's `Apphante Makan'. The project to produce the radio version of these four works and to preserve them is being undertaken by the AIR's Thrissur station as part of its `software plan scheme'.

They told The Hindu here that these four works which were the powerful motive forces of the liberation of the Namboodiri community of Kerala from the clutches of the oppressive hierarchy and orthodox leadership and customs during the pre-Independence days, would be able to unravel an entirely unfamiliar cultural ethos to the present generation of the State. The present generation may find it strange that the women of the Namboodiri community in Kerala were totally deprived of freedom and could not even see the light of the external world as they had to move under the shades of the `Marakkuda', an indigenous variety of sprawling umbrella made of palm leaves.

That the reformers of the community had to wage intense battles to provide even minimal freedom to the may carve a curious picture in the minds of the younger generation. But for those reformers, it was a battle of life and death and it was not incidental that this struggle against the social evils erupted during the fight for the freedom of the country itself.

The efforts of certain great personalities of that era who were dedicated to the eternal values of virtue and righteousness could give a tangible shape to the dream of breaking the shackles of orthodoxy and oppressive hierarchical structure that had got well-entrenched in the Namboodiri society then.

V. T. Bhattathirippad, M. R. Bhattathirippad and Premji were the prominent among them. The `Veli' system of marriage prevailing in the Namboodiri community then had a strange set of norms and edicts to it.

As per that system the eldest male member in the Namboodiri family could have multiple marriages while the younger brothers could not have an official marriage at all. The women family members whose presence was to be totally confined to the four walls of the house had to remain content with the status of being the third or fourth wife of an elderly Namboodiri from another family.

The four Renaissance plays which portrayed this despotic marriage system and other social evils prevailing in those period had to naturally face severe hostility from the beneficiaries of the prevailing oppressive social order. Even though the struggles of the Namboodiri male youth against such social evils had the silent support of the women, they could not come out in the open fearing the dire consequences. The process of transforming at least a handful of women from them into brave human beings was an extremely demanding task and these four works had made remarkable contribution towards this goal.

Produced in the broad context of Kerala's Renaissance, these four works naturally had many similarities. But each of them had many unique facets as well: The key character in M. R. Bhattathirippad's `Marakkudakkullile Mahanarakam' was the typical victim of the peculiar domineering structure of the Namboodiri families. She endures the heinous sufferings perpetrated by that social structure beyond all possible limits, and finally finds her liberation in suicide. The path of resistance was probably alien to her. On the other hand, the character in Premji's `Rithumathi' had to face lot of opposition and the one in V. T. Bhattathirippad's work fights her way from kitchen to the stage of real life.

The producer of these four radio plays is K. R. Indira, programme executive with AIR, and according to her efforts are being made to enlist the support of many people who are familiar with the cultural ambience of those literary works.

Much effort will be needed to help the present listeners relate to the content of these plays which have many literary idioms and rituals which have become `extinct' in contemporary society.

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