The ten-day Mannoorkavu Kathakali Festival held at the Mynagapally Mannoorkavu Bhagawathy temple will be inaugurated by Swamy Amritaswarupanandapuri, vice chairman of the Mata Amritanandamayi Math, on May 8 at a function to be presided over by veteran Kathakali artiste Madavoor Vasudevan Nair.
Thevally Sreekantan, journalist, will deliver the keynote address.
Student from the Mannoorkavu Kathakali Padana Kendram, S.P. Nithin, who won the first place for Kathakali in this year’s Kerala University Arts Festival will be honoured at the function.
KSRTC executive director G. Anilkumar will inaugurate the Mannoorkavu Kathakali Sangeetha Padana Kendram on the occasion.
Thanksgiving ritual
The Mannoorkavu temple is a place where more than 100 Kathakali performances are held each year as a thanksgiving ritual by devotees.
After the inaugural function the debut of the first batch ‘Vesham’ students of the Kathakali Padana Kendram will be held.
The festival comprises seminars on Kathakali, staging of Kathakali by renowned artistes, honouring of veteran Kathakali artistes, commemoration of Swati Tirunal, Cholliyatta Kalari and classes on Kathakali sangeetham.
The valedictory function in the evening on May 17 will be inaugurated by Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala at a function to be presided over by Kovur Kunjumon, MLA.
At the function, B. Ajayakumar, journalist, will present the Mannoorkavu Varadurga Puraskaram to veteran Kathakali artiste Kalamandalam Gopi.
Mannoorkavu Varadurga Puraskaram to be presented to Kalamandalam Gopi