THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It’s not everyday one sees a legislator take time out of their busy schedule to star in a thayambaka performance. On Friday, Karunagapally MLA C R Mahesh performed his arangettam (first stage performance) with the thayambaka at the Oachira Sree Parabrahma Swamy Temple. The Congress MLA’s ascension to the stage came after up to six years of rigorous training under Kandalloor Unnikrishnan Asan.
Mahesh’s mother, Lakshmikutty Amma, 70, had been an accomplished thayambaka artist, even performing for the All India Radio. However, when a college-going Mahesh expressed his desire to learn thayambaka from her, she dissuaded him saying he should have started early. Years later, a newspaper clipping caught his attention. It was about yesteryear actor Jagannatha Varma learning thayambaka at the age of 74.
“It sparked my hope. The article said the late Kandalloor Sadasivan Asan had taught the veteran actor. His son Kandalloor Unnikrishnan agreed to teach me and thus started my tryst with thayambaka. That was six years ago. It was not easy. My hands would hurt. However, I was determined to be a trained thayambaka artist,” Mahesh, 42, told TNIE.
Within minutes of his arengattam on Friday, Mahesh got offers to perform thayambaka in various public programmes. He politely declined as he was not looking to take it up as a profession. However, he took the opportunity to initiate his son Manikantan, 9, into the world of thayambaka.
Kandalloor Unnikrishnan was all praise for his disciple’s commitment. “Initially, I thought Mahesh was trying to learn thayambaka to show off. He proved me wrong. The ‘manikyam’ (thayambaka) has reached the right hands,” Kandalloor Unnikrishnan told TNIE. Now, Mahesh has set his sights on pandi melam, a classical percussion concert, and panchari melam, a major form of chenda melam.