Mani Madhava Chakyar (1899 – 1990)
Celebrated master performance artist and Sanskrit scholar from Kerala, India, considered to be the greatest Chakyar Koothu and Kutiyattam (2000 year old Sanskrit theatre tradition) artist and authority of modern times.
“..I felt angry when I learnt that a great artist like Mani Madhava Chakyar was awarded a mere Padma Shri. A man of his artistic genius and erudition deserved to be decorated with the highest state honour (Bharat Ratna)”
- RKG (Editor, The Illustrated Weekly, Columnist for Times of India), 2000
"My own people condemned my action (performing Koothu and Kutiyattam outside the precincts of the temples), Once, after I had given performances at Vaikkom, they even thought about excommunicating me. I desired that this art should survive the test of time. That was precisely why I ventured outside the temple"
- Guru about the difficulties he had faced from hardliners when he tok Koothu and Kutiyattam outside the temples and performing it for common man.
“Mani Madhava Cakyar with his unfailing urge for complicated , difficult and minute details has enriched the art during the decades of his unparalleled performing life without permitting even an iota of compromise regarding the essentials of traditional style. He has served his Kuladharma ever since his maiden appearance with tireless effort, enthusiasm, perseverance and vigor. He introduced new forms to improve this art form without impairing its tradition. The effectiveness of these innovations which only a genius could visualise and perform has already been proved several times“
- "The Hindu (1989)"
“No one is like the Emperor of Abhinaya- Mani Madhava Chakyar, and there won't be any” - Prof. Maria Christopher Byrski (first foreigner disciple of Guru and Kutiyattam), Department of Indology, Warsaw University, 1987