THEYYAM

         THEYYAM is the famous and traditional art of kerala,it is found only in Kasaragod and Kannur. The term theyyam is a corrupt form of God. The two major  Theyyam deities of Vaishnavism are Vishnumoorthi and Daivathar. The Theyyam dance is generally performed in front of the village shrines.

       THITAMPU NRITHAM

                Brahmasree Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri(44),THE LIVING LEGEND WITH 25 yrs OF EXCELLENCE IN THITAMPU NRITHAM , resident of Puthumana Illam,Chemmattam Vayal,kanhangad is a famous thitampu nritham artist(expert) at temples.He has performed at almost all the temples(around 200) in north kerala for the past 25yrs .his guru is Brahmasree MADAMANA SANKARAN EMBRANTHIRI(68),resident of Muthalappara,Neeleswaram,Kasaragod district has 45 years of experience and winner of VETHIRAMANA AWARD for senior thitampu nritham artists.he started with ARANGETTAM at Sree ATHIYAMPOOR SUBRAHMANYA SWAMY TEMPLE,Kanhangad during the SHASHTHI UTHSAVAM-1979.He was inspired by Late Brahmasree  THEKKILLAM KESHAVAN EMBRANTHIRI(First VETHIRAMANA AWARD WINNER) and another senior artist in this field Brahmasree PUTHUSSERY KRISHNAN EMBRANTHIRI resident of Payyanur.He is also famous at the National level throughout India.Video clippings of his performance  is even included in the topics of interest of the dance researchers in the foreign universities .

           He follows entirely THEKKAN SAILI and has excelled in this area.He has recieved many honoursduring the past years from well known temples likeSree(CHIRAKKA KAVU,THALASSERY,KUTTAMATH BHAGAVATHI TEMPLE,CHERUVATHUR,PALLIKKUNNU MAHAVISHNUTEMPLE,KANATHUR,EDAKKAD VISHNU TEMPLE,KANNUR) etc..Initially he has performed in the  telecast on  DOORDARSHAN on "KSHETHRAKALAKAL"(in section thitampunritham) while he was performing at Sree KOLLYA MOOKAMBIKA TEMPLE,ULLAL.After that he performed in many times for various local channels at Kasaragod like Indiavision,city channels and his NRITHAM  appears during the UTSAVA season. His performance at VEERABHADRA TEMPLE,CHERUVATHUR (The second  famous ARATTUTHSAVAM of north kerala VAYALIL ARATTU) was captured by the ASIANET  and was telecasted.his performance at CHERUPUZHA Ayyappa temple was considered the best performance in the year 2005 by a panel of old and experieneced experts.His performance at Sree VISHNUMANGALAM temple,Kanhangad will be telecasted in the SURYA channel under the programme "KELI".He will be performing  for the KAIRALI channel also soon.

            His style of performing thitampu nritham is unique and makes attractive to the viewers even without the knowledge of this divine art.It is always found that there will be a large crowd to watch this performance from areas far away from temples.He keeps all the conventional styles as such with varities which comes under the new trend.he always says "I perform thitampu nritham with bhakthi which is the secret of my success" and he does not believe in the degrading tendencies by the new artists to perform mere dance instead of NRITHAM due to lack of effort.He remains performing different SHAILIS for continous 30 minutes each for 4 THALAVATTAMS(For continous 2 hrs) and says the "ADANTHA" is his favourite.He is becoming popular nowadays as he always  sticks only to this art and never tries to copy other dances and art forms.Govindan Namboodiri has performed in more than a hundred temples even at the age of 25 and won appreciation and numerous awards from his admirers. Every year he performs at new temples in North Kerala and Karnataka. He has delighted crowds in  various parts of Karnataka including Mangalore and Bangalore apart from the fans in Trivandrum,Kochi,Thrissur and Calicut.It is a measure of his fame that people even from far waay places crowd to the temples where he is a performer.Every year Govindan Namboothiri gets invitations from new temples. Such is his popularity. It is a reflection on his devotion to this divine art that he is giving training to many aspiring youngsters. Further, he is doing research on the origin, development, scope and peculiarities of this art and intends to bring out an authentic book. The purpose is to rejuvenate Thitambu Nritham, which is facing eclipse.He was the only artist selected for a 1 hr special interview session by Indiavision in Thidampu section last year.

             He respects all THITAMPU artists whether they follow THEKKAN or VATAKKAN saili and continues with its magestic performance from vrishchikam to medam.He comes to perform THITAMPU NRITHAM under request which has fascinated thousands of viewers(art lovers) and devotees irrespecive of weight of the Thitampu.It is a matter of special  interest that there are many temples where he continues to perform since he was assigned since 1979!! He lives as pure NAMBOOTHIRI with pooja and maintains old tradition of the community.The soft spoken expert of thitampu nritham is known by majority of marars in north kerala and respected by them.He remembers how he was introduced by KADANNAPPALLI SANKARAN KUTTY MARAR to PALLIKKUNNU KANATHOOR temple for performance with Late Brahmasree thekkillam Kesavan Embranthiri. It is a reflection on his devotion to this divine art that he is giving training to many aspiring youngsters. Further, he is doing research on the origin,Drumming, development, scope andother  peculiarities of this art and intends to bring out an authentic book. The purpose is to rejuvenate Thitambu Nritham, which is facing eclipse. A majority of his fans believes that the honours recieved by him so far is not sufficient to greet him for his excellence and the dedication he shows in this field.

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