Malabar History journal

Biography.

Vallathol was born in 1879 in chennara, Mangalam, Ponnani Taluk of Malabar as the son of Kadungotte Mallissery Damodaran Elayathu and Kuttipparu Amma. His father ‘Vallathol’, the name by which he came to be known everywhere, is the name of tharavad – the family he came from. Although he did not receive any formal education, he studied Sanskrit and soon attained a high standard of proficiency in kavya, nataka and alankara. He studied tharaka under the fine scholar Kaikulangara Rama Varyar. He also studied Ashtanga Hridayam, a medical treatise under his own uncle Ramunni Menon and young Narayana Menon soon helped his uncle in medical practice and teaching. He married Vanneri Chttazhiveettil Madhavi Amma in November 1891 and shifted to Thrissur- the cultural capital of Kerala. He worked as manager in Kalpadrumam press in Thrissur from 1905 to 1910. During this period, his hearing began to deteriorate. From 1915, he started working in Keralodayam newspaper and later joined Amrit Ritesh, a journal published from Thrissur.

Poetry

Vallathol started writing poems from the age of 12. By the time he was 13 years old, he had already published three small books of poems. Kirada Satakam and Vyasavatar were his earliest published works. His mahakavya Chitrayogam conformed to all the principles of a traditional mahakavya and was divided into 18 sargas. He was well known for the translation of Sanskrit works. He has a masterly translation of Valmiki’s Ramayana. He translated Rigveda in his seventies. He also translated five major Puranas, the Shakuntala of Kalidasa, numerous Dramas of Basa etc. One of his famous translations is Sapta Sati of Hala from the prakrit language. In the prime of his life, at the age of 43, he started losing his hearing. This led to one of his most famous poems Badhiravilapam – the cry of the deaf. The significant poem of the period is Aniruddhan, a deeply felt love poem full of social and political overtones. His poem Magdalana Mariyam – Mary of magdala deals with a touching incident from the New Testament. Sahityamanjari is the collection of his poems. He has a great contribution on Khandakavya, the short poems of lyrical type. He was responsible for bringing about a revolutionary change in Malayalam poetry in the 1920s.

His career can be studied as 3 stages of developments. In the early period, he was a poet in the tradition of sanskrit classism. Then we see a transformation in the outlook which is concerned with national awakening. He became a prophet and a champion of nationalism. His poetry began to take a new content to breathe the spirit of an ardent patriotism and to be inspired by the social revolution which he found taking place around him. He was the leader of renaissance which resulted from his association with the national movement which began to catch the imagination of people at about the same time. Later on, the political content took on a new edge. Political freedom is not enough. There should be social and economic justice for the down and out. He criticized caste restrictions and inequalities. He stood for Hindu-Muslim Unity. He spent his last years in translating the Rig Veda and they may represent, in a way, a return to traditional past though with a new awareness.

Late in life, Vallathol travelled widely in Northern India, in Malaya, in Burma, to the Soviet Union and to China. Some of the tours were undertaken to raise funds for the Kerala Kalamandalam, the school of dance. He was honoured with the title “Kavisarvabhoman” by the Maharaja of Cochin. He was awarded with Padma Bhushan title India’s third highest civilian award in 1954. He passed away on 13th March 1958.

Kathakali

Vallathol established the Kerala Kalamandalam as a training center for Kathakali in 1930. The nationalist pride in Indian culture led him to setting up an institution to preserve and promote heritage arts. The first to raise funds on behalf of Kerala arts, Vallathol conducted an all-India lottery and organised national and international tours to promote Kathakali. Kalamandalam today is a standing tribute to his enthusiasm and to the many sacrifices he made so that we may live and prosper. Today Kalamandalam operates as a state-run academy that imparts training in classical dance and dramatic arts.

National Movements

Political awakening under Mahatma Gandhi attracted him. He was part of the forefront of the national struggle with poetry as his weapon. His My Master is a magnificent poem on Gandhiji. He actively participated in the nationalist movement. He attended the all-India Conferences of the Indian Congress in 1922 and 1927 and rejected a royal honour bestowed upon him by the Prince of Wales during his India visit in 1922. He was also attracted by the communist ideology and wrote poems praising the achievements of the Soviet Union.

References

• Menon, V. K. Narayana. “Vallathol.” Indian Literature, vol. 1, no. 2, 1958, pp. 14–18. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23329286. Accessed 20 Jul. 2022.
• Panikkar, K. M. “Vallathol of Kerala.” Indian Literature, vol. 1, no. 1, 1957, pp. 32–35. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23328608. Accessed 24 Jul. 2022.
• Raja, K. Kunjunni. “Renaissance in Malayalam Writing.” Indian Literature, vol. 17, no. 1/2, 1974, pp. 166–71. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23329869. Accessed 20 Jul. 2022.
• Kurup, O. N. V. “Renaissance in Malayalam Poetry.” Indian Literature, vol. 17, no. 1/2, 1974, pp. 178–86. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23329871. Accessed 20 Jul. 2022.
• Daugherty, Diane. “Fifty Years on: Arts Funding in Kerala Today.” Asian Theatre Journal, vol. 17, no. 2, 2000, pp. 237–52. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1124491. Accessed 22 Jul. 2022.
• Vallathol Narayana Menon. Wikipedia. Accessed 11 Jul. 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vallathol_Narayana_Menon