Last week, March 27 to be precise, was the birth centenary of one of the most unique and a rather unknown (to new India) dance talent — Thankamani. A Cochin native, she was born Mangatt Mullakyal Thankamani and the first student of Vallathol’s institution — the Kerala Kalamandalam. In the late 1920s, poet and politically inclined (in pre-Independence India, to be politically motivated meant fighting for India’s freedom and that was respectful , unlike today)
Vallathol Narayanan Menon went door to door selling one rupee lottery ticket for building his dream dance institution and collected ₹30,000 (a huge sum those days) to lay the foundation in 1930 of what today stands as the Kerala Kalamandalam. When the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru came to bless it officially, there was no foundation stone. Menon told him that he had run short of money to buy even a marble stone for an engraving! Nehru there and then gave him ₹10,000 grant. It was time when Indian arts and culture was truly valued.
Fast forward to our dear respected Thankamani. She was the daughter of karyasthanam Govinda Nair of Raja Manakulam Manavikrama, who was the chief patron of Kalamandalam. Thus Govinda was forced to enrol his daughter because he could not say no to the king. Thankamani learnt from Kalyani amma. She fell in love with her co-performer, the handsome Gopinath. ‘Discovered’ by Ragini Devi (mother of Indrani Rahman), the American pioneer, he had just returned from a whirl wind tour of the West.
Gopinath and Madhavan were two boys also enlisted by Vallathol to learn Kathakali at his Kalamandalam. A Cochin girl marrying a Travancore boy was a no, no, but Thankamani and Gopinath went ahead and married anyway. The couple had four children — Vasanthi, Venu, Vilasini and Vinodini.
The pair was devoted to Kerala Natanam. This style is simplified Kathakali as guru Gopinath devised it, with lasya ang of Mohiniyattom by Thankamani. Today the style is at best a museum piece with few proponents because many like G. Venu , who learnt directly from the gurus took to greener pastures or forms like Koodiyattom. Bhavani (a disciple, now 92-year-old) and Vinodini remain the last link . Gopinath and Thankamani moved to Madras as the film industry beckoned them. They introduced the Travancore Sisters to Uday Shankar for his iconic film Kalpana . From Madras they went to Delhi and created the Bharatiya Kala Kendra’s ever lasting work Ramlila. Then they returned to Trivandrum and started Viswa Kala Kendra in Vattiyurkaavu.
Tomorrow, April 7, is the birth date of another interesting artiste, who hailing from Madras took Bharatanatyam to Baroda, then Punjab, Paris and Delhi in the 1950s through the Eighties. Her name — Madras Kadravellu Saroja — whose life in dance is a most unusual story, which I cannot narrate here since she happens to be my esteemed mother.
Patriarch of Odissi
The date, April 7, however, is the death anniversary of Kelubabu (Kelucharan Mohapatra). His single biggest contribution is volume — the number of his students, who have taken the art of Odissi from a small village to the world outside is a legion. The work of this Odissi giant — a musician, performer, composer and choreographer — is is immense. Add three generation of top names as disciples — Sanjukta Panigrahi, Sonal Mansingh, Minati Das in first, Madhavi Mudgal, Protima Bedi, Daksha Mashurwala in second and Sharmila Biswas, Ratikant and Sujata Mohapatra in third. What a legacy!
Odissi is the corrupted word; originally Orissi was used for decades when first generation pioneers, gurus and scholarship were sincere and adhered to local, classical culture and nomenclature. After Bharatanatyam, it is the most learnt and performed style. Four gurus — Pankaj Charan Das, Kelucharan Mohapatra, Deba Prasad Das and Mayadhar Raut — codified various raas, jatra, akhada and other traditions to make one unified form, which they (and an official body like All India Radio then) simply dubbed Orissi.
The writer, a critic and historian, is the author of several books and edits attenDance, a yearbook
