Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan was known as the 'Father of Malayalam language and literature.' In Malayalam the word 'Thunchan' means the youngest, though he was one of the eldest among vernacular poets who had made the Bhakti cult popular among people of the region. 'Ezhuthachan' means 'Father of writing.' He was born in 1495 in a place near Thrikandiyoor Shiva Temple, Tirur Taluka of Malappuram district, Kerala. The year of his death was marked 1575 AD. The Malayalam version of the 'Adhyatma Ramayanam Kilipaatt' triggered a spiritual revolution across the Malayalam speaking region as laymen could access epic reading for their spiritual contentment in their local dialect. The impact of the revolution still continues as the generation continues to pass on the custom of reading the entire Adhyatma Ramayanam' over a month at every Hindu home as well as in every temple. In a way, he had made great contributions to the language and in building the Bhakti cult among people of all sects, cutting across castes within Hindus. The centuries-long Bhakti cult gained new momentum after he made 'Kilipaatt' (Parrot song), a new genre in the language, which is still popular.
He translated Ramayana into pure Malayalam 'kilipaatt' form and made it adaptive to the spiritual needs of people by carefully employing suitable Sanskrit sounds that carried power to influence nature. The translation and interpretation of 'Adhyatma Ramayanam Kilipaatt' made Malayalam speaking locals familiar with the epic and closer to Ramayana stories and chanting. No other book ever written in Malayalam could be a better seller than 'Adhyatma Ramayanam' kilipaatt of Ezhuthachan. More than four and half centuries have been over after his lifetime, he still occupies the tallest position in the literary gallery of Malayalam language, which was made modern and completely independent through the translation of the 'Adhyatama Ramayanam Kilipaatt'. All his works were in the genre of 'killipaatt'. Through the Malayalam version of the 'Adhyatama Ramayanam' he narrates the story of Vatmiki and Ramayan in a style of parrot singing. The poet requests a parrot to sing a song that narrates the story through the famous line in the book: ''Sree Rama Namam Paadi Vanna Payinkili Penne Sreerama Charitham Nee Cholleedu Madiyathe'' (dear bird that came chanting Sree Rama’s name! narrate me the tale of Rama without hesitation) Similarly, no other literary figure in Kerala had contributed so richly to the native language to gain a dignified position among the Dravidian language than Ezhuthachan had done. Nearly a century ago Cherusseri Namboothiri had written 'Krishnagatha', the first complete Malayalam literary piece opening way for effective poetic communication. This inspired many other litterateurs of later centuries. Ezhuthachan’s literary works known for magical sound effect, all of which eventually became spiritual texts for the Malayali speaking community, depicted the evaluation of the language that started from Cherusseri. Besides 'Adhyatma Ramayanam Kilipaatt', 'Mahabharatam Kilipaatt' is another major epic translation work of Ezhuthachan in the 'Kilipaatt' genre. His other works included 'Uttara Ramayanam', 'Shathamukha Ramayanam', 'Bhaghavatham Kilipaatt', 'HariNaamaKeethanam', 'Kaivalya Neethi', 'Bhramanda Puranam', 'ShivaPuranam', 'DeviMaahathmyam' etc ..
0 تعليقات