For letter or verse, Indu Sunil, Laya Raj and Deepthi Narayanan, all techies in Techopark, are willing to sacrifice even their precious holiday. Well-versed in Aksharaslokam, an art of reciting verses from the rich treasure of Malayalam literature, they are members of the city-based Vidyadhiraja Aksharasloka Samithi that has keep a core group of enthusiastic members who meet once in a month.
At the monthly meet of the Samithi at Kannamoola, the members, ranging from eight-year-old Bhagath Sunand to 84-year-old K. K. Damodaran, were busy reeling off poetic lines from famous works in Malayalam.
“Compared to Central and North Kerala, Aksharasloka samithis aren’t very common in South Kerala. However, the capital city has had a legend in the late Horakkad Krishnan Nambudiri who started the Thiruvananthapuram Aksharasloka Samithi 42 years ago. It was this erudite scholar who inspired us to form the organisation. He used to say that it is a classic art that can be mastered only through years of rigorous practice. We began by organising an all-Kerala Aksharasloka competition and since then we have been holding this monthly session without a break,” says K. Velappan Pillai, secretary of the Samithi, a former employee of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
On the second Sunday of every month, the members, which includes senior citizens, government employees, IT professionals and school and college students come together for a two-hour session of captivating recital of slokas. Some of the members like 83-year-old K. Sivasankaran Nair and Padmavathi Amma, both former State government employees, have decades of experience. They have memorised thousands of verses and have even won prizes at many competitions held across the State.
In addition to an excellent memory to store the verses and recite them without any lapses, fans of the game or art form, call it what you will, need to have perfect diction and clarity to pronounce the words. “Since the stress is on diction and clarity, your command over the language improves. It keeps your grey matter ticking,” says Narayanan Namboodiripad, who works with the ISRO. Nirmala Rajagopal, a retired audit officer and poet, adds, “Aksharaslokam is the best way to learn to speak chaste Malayalam. It is heartening that now there are various samitis that promote the art and Aksharaslokam is a competition event at school youth festivals.”
In fact, the young techies admit that school–and college–level competitions have been a major encouraging factor. It was an Aksharaslokam event at Technopark that ignited their interest again.
So, how do they remember the verses? It comes with practice, say the members in unison. And they keep adding new verses to their memory bank. They write it down on small pieces of paper and memorise them whenever they can, be it while travelling in a bus or train. “Vishnu Narayanan Namboothiri sir once remarked that those who are devoted to Aksharaslokam can neither be bad nor will they have Alzheimer's disease,” says Nagappan Nair, another veteran in the Samithi.
Initiatives
In addition to the monthly sessions, the 16-year-old Samithi conducts ‘Udayasthamana Sadas’ which goes on from morning till evening in which each member gets at least 100 rounds to recite the slokas. Also, the Samithi organises an all-Kerala Aksharasloka competition in May every year. There are separate competitions for school and college students as well. On December 25, the group is holding a session in which the members will render 1,001 slokas starting with letters ‘aa’ and ‘ka’. Participants from three districts are expected to participate. The event is at Mini Community Hall, Kannamoola, from 9.30 a.m.
Another contest is ‘Samasyapooranam’, in which participants are given just the last line or one or two words of the last line of a stanza and they are expected to fill in the rest using their imagination. Contact: 9349813600
The rules
In Aksharaslokam, you have to recite a quatrain with a prescribed meter. Once it starts, the next in line has to recite a sloka with the first letter of the third line of the previous sloka. In addition to poems by Asan, Ulloor and Vallathol, verses by Kunjikkuttan Thampuran, Venmani Achan Namboothiri, Sheevolli, Naduvathachan, Oravankara Raja, V. K. Govindan Nair, K. N. Durgadathan Namboothirippad, N. K. Desam… are also rendered. Poems by modern poets are usually not chosen because most of them do not adhere to the prescribed meters such as Sragdhara, Kusumamanjari, Shardoolavikreeditham, Mandakrantha, Malini and Vasanthathilakam.
