Asan K. Velayudhan Nair (Retd. Asan, Krishnanattam)
Mr. Kollengat Velayudhan Nair was born in August, 1932 in the family of
Kollengat in Kuthanur, Palakkad District in Kerala. His mother was Kollengat
Kunjilakshmi Amma and father was Mundath Balakrishnan Nair. He has one
brother and one sister. Shri Velayudhan Nair joined Krishnanattam Troupe at
the age of seven in 1939 during June-July at Zamorin Palace, Calicut. His
two cousin brothers were already in the troupe. In those days, most of the
Krishnanattam artists were from Kuthanur village of Palakkad District. The
Chief Guru of Krishnanattam was Late Shri Palakkal Achutan Nair. Palakkal
Achutan Nair selected Shri Velayudhan Nair in to the Troup. Besides Asan
Achutan Nair, the other prominant Gurus were Late Shri Karunakaran Nair and
Late Shri Ravunni Karta. Shri Velayudhan Nair started training at the
Krishnanattam Kalari at the age of seven. After six months of rigorous
training, Shri Velayudhan Nair enacted the role of child Krishnan in the
play Avatharam before the then Honourable Zamorin Raja. The entire
Zamorin family were present to witness the Arangettam. Year by year, Shri
Velayudhan Nair enacted the role of Krishna in the plays Kaliamarddanam,
Kamsavadham, Swayamvaram, Banayuddham, Vividavadham and when he
acquired sound proficiency he enacted the most important and intricate role
of Krishna in "Rasakrida". By this time Shri Velayudhan Nair was capable of
enacting the role of middle type characters. Whwn he entered the age of
35-40, the Chief Guru directed him to enact the top most characters of
Krishnanattam, i.e., Kamsan and Poothana (Avataram), Sankachudan (Rasakrida),
Wrestlers (Kamsavadham), Sisupalan, Yavanan and Jambavan (Swayamvaram),
Sivan, Narakasuran (Banayuddham), Balaraman and Jarasandhan (Vividavadham)
and Uddhavan (Swargarohanam). Shri Velayudhan Nair acquired proficiency in
Mudrabhinaya, Lasya Dance, Thandava Dance, Battle Dance and Svathikabhinaya
of Krishnanattam. As the Krishnanattam art comprises of so many masked
characters, art lovers assign much importance to Dehabhinaya (i.e., eneact
the rasa through body movement). Shri Velayudhan Nair acquired much
proficiency in this particular section, Dehabhinayam. The famous pair of
Krishnanattam on those days was that of Shri K. Velayudhan Nair and Shri K.
Krishnankutty Nair. He spent most of his youth days in Zamorin Palace and
came to Guruvayur Temple in 1958 when, the then Zamorin surrendered the
Troup at the feet of Lord Guruvayurappan. The days at Zamorin Palace were do
memorable.
On reaching Guruvayur, Service Conditions were introduced to the Krishnattam
artists and they became the permanent employees of Devaswom. Several grade
systems were introduced to the artists and Shri Velayudhan Nair passing
through these grades became the Asan in 1973 and took charge as main Asan in
1986. He retired from service at the age of sixty in the month of August,
1992.
Shri Velayudhan Nair resides in Guruvayur and his family consists of his
wife, son and two daughters. Son, Mr. Balakrishnan is an Ayurvedic doctor in
Coimbatore under the State Government of Tamil Nadu and the two daughters
are married. After retirement Shri Velayudhan Nair was immered in the study
of Krishnanattam.
Shri Velayudhan Nair received rigourous training in the traditional
Gurukula syle under the guidance of Chief Gurus. This enabled him to enact
the most intricate characters of Krishnanattam. For the glorious and lengthy
service rendered by him, Guruvayur Devaswom honoured him by offering the
Manaveda Award in 1991. Kerala sangeeta Nataka Akademi honoured him for his
notable contributions to the culyural field of Kerala by giving the Award in
1985. After his retirement, in 1995 the Madhyapradesh Government recognised
his golden era of service by giving him the most auspicious award, "THULASI
SAMMAN".
He was awarded the senior fellowship of the Cultural Department of the
Government of India in 1999. Accepting this fellowship, Shri Velayudhan Nair
compiled a book on Krishnanattam.
In 1997, Zamorin honoured him with the Revathy Pattathanam Puraskaram.
While in Krishnanattam Troupe, he participated in all major programmes. He
gave performances in India and Abroad. The first ever foreign tour of
Krishnanattam was in conducted in European countries and U.S.A. under the
leadership of Shri K. Velayudhan Nair.
