IT was the late 1930s. Palace No 4, the official residence of the then Maharaja of Kochi, Rama Varma, was about to witness a historic moment. The concert of Manku Thampuran, a princess of the Kochi royal family, was being broadcast live on All India Radio.
In those days women of the royal family were not allowed to perform in public. But Manku Thampuran, who had learned music from the maestro Chembai Vaidhyanatha Bhagavathar, was allowed the rare opportunity. Manku was singing from her uncle’s official residence.
“As per the order of the King the entire equipment needed for the broadcast was brought from Madras,” recalls Manku Thampuran, the present Valiyamma Thampuran (the seniormost female member of the Kochi royal family), now 96 years old. “I still remember that programme. Palace No 4 was situated next to the north fort gate. Soon after the broadcast AIR also recorded an interview with the King of Kochi in connection with that year’s Atha Chamayam.” It was the time when princesses were not allowed to mingle with ordinary students.
But Manku never allowed these barriers to nip her musical ambitions.
“Chembai once presented a concert at the Oottupura Malika for the Vrischikotsavam.
At my uncle’s request he agreed to stay on at the palace for a while to teach me keertans.
The teaching went on for ten years and I got a sound knowledge of all the major compositions of the musical trinities,” she says.
The Chandravilasam Palace frequently hosted discussions on music and stalwarts like M K Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, Mysore Chowdayya, Palakkad Mani Iyer, Shemmangudi Sreenivasa Iyer and others were regular guests here. Chembai once organised a concert by Manku in the spacious courtyard of the palace accompanied by violin maestro Mysore Chowdayya on the violin and Mani Iyer at the Mridangam. Manku Thampuran rendered her favourite raga, sankarabharanam.
Even after the memorable broadcast of her concert, Manku had to wait for years to present a concert. Occasionally she would get a chance to render selected keertans at the Radha Lakshmi Vilasam College of Music established by one of her uncles.
When the first communist ministry came into existence in Kerala, Manku became the first ever chairperson of the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi in 1957. In that capacity, she presented a concert at the Madras Music Akademi from where she received a thampura as a reward. Even today she has the thampura, with which she continues to share countless musical memories. Manku Thampuran also participated in the Chembai Sangeetholsavam at the Guruvayoor Sree Krishna Temple.
“The unexpected visit of the nomadic sopanam singer, the late Njaralathu Rama Pothuval, in the early half of the 1990s evoked the memories of my childhood days because he was a disciple of Chembai,” she says.
“Pothuval came to see me, and after offering Ashtapadi at Sree Poornathrayeesha temple, both of us spent hours together recalling the humorous remarks made by Chembai during his music classes.” After getting the invaluable music wealth from Chembai, Pothuval travelled across the state to offer his version of sopana sangeetham before myriad deities, thus attaining salvation. Though most of the live musical experiences Thampuran had with Chembai Vaidhya Natha Bhagavathar and other noted stalwarts in carnatic music are fading from her memory today, Manku is trying to retain some of them with the help of her daughter Sulochana Thampuran and the invaluable Thampura she once won.
sivadasvarma@gmail.com