MY PANDALAM PART 2 Dearfriends,
Today responseabout Pandalam part 1 by Sri Venkat Raman Perinthalmanna reminded me that Ihave not posted part 2 of the posting. This is part 2 of the posting. Sincerely, GopalaKrishnan 28-6-2021 7.Famous people of Pandalam 7.1 Pandalam Kerala Varma - Poet KeralaVarma (most commonly known as Mahakavi Pandalam Kerala Varma) (1879 - 1919) wasa poet and publisher. He was born in Pandalam, and belonged to the PandalamRoyal Family. Hestarted writing Sanskrit poems from age 12, and Malayalam poems from age 19. One of his widely known poems is DaivameKai Thozham Kathumarakanam…, a prayer song.This prayer song was sung a girl student while I was studying in primaryschool. Hepublished the fortnightly journal Kavana Kaumudi, which included all materials in poetry. Thefirst issue of Kavana Kaumudi was published in 1904. The editorials of thejournal included social, political, and contemporary issues. In 1979, acollection of his writings were reprinted and published as selected works. ThePandalam Kerala Varma Smaraka Samithi is an association set up in remembranceof the poet. The Samithi offers two awards; a literary award to honourexcellence in poetry and a media award to honour excellence in editorial. Theaward is known by the name Mahakavi Pandalam Kerala Varma Award. PoetsLate O. N. V. Kurup, Late K. Ayyappa Panicker, Late Vishnu Narayanan Namboothiri,Satchidanandan, Late Kadammanitta Ramakrishnan, Late Akkitham AchuthanNamboothiri, and late Sugathakumari have been recipients of this prestigiousaward. (Ihave added the persons with late about whom I have noted while watching TVMalayalam news channel) PandalamKerala Varma memorial library is the base for my knowledge in Malayalam andskill in writing. If I remember correct, almost all books of the library till1964 from 1954 have read by me. Mymembership in the library continued and my brother’s sons were using it laterfor about 20 years till they became young. The Library is in Kulanada now. WhileI was studying in the college, lecturers used to come to library and take booksfor reading. Many used to come with us. 7.2 M. N. Govindan Nair - Politician M.N.Govindan Nair was born on December 10, 1910 at Mulakkal House, Mulampuzhavillage Pandalam. His father's name was E.R.Narayanan Nair.He was one of thetop leaders of the Communist Party of India. He served as secretary of theCommunist Party in Kerala, as a Member of Parliament, and as a Minister ofKerala. Hehas undertaken portfolios as Minister for Agriculture, Transport, Electricityand Housing in the Fourth Kerala Legislative Assembly under Chief Minister Mr.C.Achutha Menon Government (4 October, 1970 - 25 March 1977)He died in 1984 . We used to go to Thazhahthu Mahadevartemple crossing river Achankovil and passing through thefront of his house. His house was on the riverbank. 7.3P. K. Manthri - Cartoonist P.K. Manthri (21 May 1933 – 1984) was a renowned Indian cartoonist. Manthri wasborn to Pulikkeril Kesavan and Karthyayani amma, at Pandalam in Pathanamthittadistrict of Kerala, India. SriP. Kesavan was my middle school teacher. He was a good farmer also. We used toget astonished seeing he in the weekly market bringing agricultural produces. LatePK Manthri studied painting from the Ravi Varma School of Arts, Mavelikkara. Hepublished cartoons in Sarasan and Narmada. Later, his works appeared inMathrubhumi, Janayugam, Malayala Nadu, Malayala Rajyam and Manorajyam. Hewas a drawing teacher by profession. Manthri himself appeared in many of hisown cartoons. 7.4V. S. Valiathan V.S. Valiathan (1919 - 2006) was an acclaimed artist and recipient of theprestigious Raja Ravi Varma Award of 2006, instituted by the Kerala Government.He is well known for his classical style of painting. He was considered to be the lastlink of Raja Ravi Varma tradition. He was the recipient ofChitrakala Parishath Fellowship in 1996 and the Kerala Lalithakala AcademyAward in 2002. Hewas born to Revathinal Ravi Varma Raja of the Pandalam Royal Family andThottathil Madhavi Amma. Late Ravi Varma was known as Vyakarana thampuran(exponentin Malayalam grammar) or morecommonly known among students as Aanathampuram. Valiathanfollowed a realistic style in his paintings. He drew inspiration from hissurroundings, Indian epics and World classics. His famous paintings includeKulakkadavu (Bathing Ghat), Themmadikkattu (Ruffian wind), Vreela vivasa(Bashful damsel), Macbeth, Summer Season, and Prakrithi Drusyam (Landscape).Some of his paintings are on display at the Sree Chitra Art Gallery,Thiruvananthapuram. He had conducted many solo exhibitions of his paintings. Healso authored a Kathakali story, named Natyodbhavam. 7.5 Late Kadammanitta Vasudevan Pillai - Padayani exponent SriVasudevan Pillai was born to M. Ramakrishnan Nair and Parukutty Amma, inKadammanitta in Pathanamthitta, Kerala. He completed his pre-school andgraduated from the Government College in Pathanamthitta. He did his MSc inMathematics from Bhopal and was the first rank holder. He completed his PostGraduation with Gold medal. He later came back to Kerala and joined as lecturerin Mathematics in various colleges in Kerala. He worked in NSS College,Pandalam for most of the time, till his retirement as Head of Department in2005. VasudevanPillai has contributed greatly to the field of Kerala folklore. He has writtena number of books on Padayani and other traditional art forms. He is therecipient of many State Awards for his literary and cultural contributions. Hisbond with villages can be seen clearly in his works. Theyouth of Kadammanitta, under the leadership of Vasudevan Pillai, had formedKadammanitta Gothra Kala Kalari through which this art form has been taught tomany and is being passed over to generations. Hewas living in Pandalam. He is married toOmana Kumariamma and is father of three - Kadammanitta Manu (Mrudangam Artist),Kadammanitta Anu (Singer) and Lakshmi (Violin Artist). His company withKadammanitta Ramakrishnan had led to the rise of many literary contributions. 7.6 Other eminent personalities Othereminent personalities are 1. Pandalam K. P. - Poet 2.Pandalam P. R. -Politician 3.PandalamSudhakaran - Politician, Former Kerala State Cabinet Minister 4.PandalamBalan – Singer. At present I am nothaving more details about them toinclude in this posting. My classmate in middle school Sri Pandalam Prabhakaranis/was a famous artist. While I go home, I could see posters and banners drawn by him. 7.7. Ramamantha Iyer and SS Mani My aunt’s son Late Ramanatha Iyer was the firstgraduate with BEd from Brahmin community. He was headmaster in Pandalam NSSHigh school Pandalam for a long period. Heresided next to my home. Late S S Mani one yearelder to me was first Rank in MSc Chemistry and was lecturer in Pandalam NSS College. Hewas famous for humour. One hour of hislecture class was felt as 10 minutes to students as told by them to me. My close friends Geevarghese john and V John , were working as professor of Physics in Cathololic college, Pathanamthitta, and CMS College Kottayam and retired . Another friend Late V John was DE Telecom in Mavelikkara. I have neverworked anywhere near my home, while in Kerala circle. 7.7 Colloquialexpression There is a colloquial expression- “Pada pedichu Pandalathuchennappol Pandavum kuthi pada”. This saying is from- Fearingarmy attack, Kayamkulam royal went toPandalam, but he found Pandalam king was starting for war 8 Iyers of Pandalam When I was a boy, at Pandalam there were 32 iyer matams as individual homes. Manyhave sold, many have settled away. Currently we are having 6 or 7 matams. Still a samooha matam in owned place, a separate burialground for iyer is there. Due towidening of MC road burial ground has become a narrow strip of Land. A few years back the samoohamatam was renovated. Recently there was an issue of dumping waste in the samooha matam campus. The remaining iyers are well settled, financially sound andthey still conduct sastha preethi and Mandalam pooja in samooha madam. There is no sasthrikals and for every samskara some sasthrikal has to be brought from places like Ernakulam or Trivandrum. 9 Conclusion This write up is not complete. Many things I could not add forlength of mail. Other members can add their points –either from Pandalam orassociated with Pandalam. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/2121394181.3774229.1624891386793%40mail.yahoo.com.
