Preserving a legacy

Kottarathil Sankunni Smaraka Kala Mandiram in Kottayam faces an uphill task to keep alive the legacy of litterateur Kottarathil Sankunni.

July 30, 2015 08:30 pm | Updated 08:30 pm IST - Thiruvananthapuram

Kottarathil Sankunni Smaraka Kala Mandiram at Kottayam. Photo: Special Arrangement

Kottarathil Sankunni Smaraka Kala Mandiram at Kottayam. Photo: Special Arrangement

It is strange irony that an author’s memorial had to be built with the royalty from one of his works. The Kottarathil Sankunni Smaraka Kala Mandiram in Kottayam is one such memorial. And today, this memorial managed by the Kottarathil Sankunni Smaraka Trust is gasping for breath. Paucity of funds has hit the day-to-day activities and its ambitious projects have been put on hold.

The idea of a memorial for Kottarathil Sankunni, the eminent Malayalam author whose numerous works in prose and poetry, especially the iconic Aithihyamala (Garland of Legends) that enriched Malayalam literature, was first mooted in 1968 by a cultural organisation, Sree Bhadra Kala Samajam.

Things moved fast in the beginning. A committee was formed, K.V. Vasudevan Unni of Sankunni’s family donated eight cents of land for the memorial and fund raising initiatives launched.

“Our records show that the start was encouraging. The then Union Minister for Law and Social Welfare Panampilly Govinda Menon laid the foundation stone for the proposed two-storied building. But once the construction began the committee began to feel the pinch. C. Achutha Menon, the then Chief Minister, granted Rs. 10,000. With things not progressing as planned due to shortage of funds the committee struck upon the idea of obtaining the rights of Sankunni’s magnum opus Aithihyamala from Mangalodayam press in Thrissur. This was done and we published a new edition of this work in 1974. The copies sold well and the committee managed to complete the building in 1977,” says Aravindan, the present president of the Trust.

Sankunni, like the male members of his family, was a noted Theeyattu (an ancient temple art form) artiste. He performed regularly at the Pallippurathu Kavu, his family shrine, located close to his ancestral home. The Sree Bhadra Kala Samajam was registered in 1967, with the prime objective of keeping alive and propagating this art form.

The Kottarathil Sankunni Smaraka Trust was registered in 1991. “We still function in close union with the Samajam. In fact, the Samajam is headquartered at the memorial building. All the activities are now being conducted under the aegis of the Trust,” says Aravindan.

Since 1978, every April 4, the Trust celebrates Sankunni’s birthday in a grand manner.

“We organise a commemorative lecture and a talk on an important litterateur whose portrait is unveiled at our portrait gallery is also held. We conduct art classes where students are trained in watercolour, oil, acrylic, fabric paint, and drawing. We also have a gallery space, Aithihya, which provides a platform for artists to showcase their works. A library also functions out of the building.”

Down the years the Trust has found the going tough. “Many of our projects have not taken off for lack of funds, while some of those that we started have been put on hold. A centre for language learning, the Kottarathil Sankunni Smaraka Bhasha Padana Kendram, and the Aksharasloka Padana Vidyalayam are two that we had to discontinue. Some of our ambitious projects such as the library and research centre for which we have already bought books worth Rs. 7 lakh and the folklore academy have not got off.”

A 3,000 square feet space on the terrace of the memorial building has been converted for the library and research centre.

“We need to buy furniture, a few computers, find ways to pay a librarian, and put up a false ceiling with proper lighting in the first phase. For the folklore academy we have in our possession a house, a naalukettu, that can be effectively utilised,” says Sasidhara Sharma, secretary of the Trust.

A narrow road behind the memorial leads to Sankunni’s ancestral house. It remains exactly as it stood 200 years ago.

The District Tourism Promotion Council had included this heritage landmark as part of a project, called Letter Tourism Circuit Project that aimed to link the to tourist centres in Kottayam. But this again has not got off the block.

“We are only making a request to the government to help us maintain this memorial and conduct the activities there. What we get now is small sums of money and that too not regularly. We need a steady annual grant and a one-time grant for us to begin some of our projects. This will go a long way to perpetuate the memory of a great soul of this land,” states Aravindan.

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