Mani Madhava Chakyar Quotes

"It is not the favourable conditions, but most deprived circumstances that mould an artist” - about the struggles that he had undergone in his life as an artist.

“When i say Abhinaya, oh, I can't do the abhinaya like what the great man did here yesterday” - Great Bharatanatyam dancer Balasaraswati next day after Chakyar's lecture-demonstration at Madras Music Academy in 1973.

"Mani Madhava Chakyar's forte was Satwikabhinaya. Endowed with expressive eyes; that can speak a thousand moods and a countenance that can reflect the range of human emotions in its entirety, Mani Madhava Chakkiar was the master at work" - Mani Madhava Chakkyar: The Master at Work (film), 1994

...Mani Madhava Chakyar, the overarching titan of 20th-century Koodiyattam, whose histrionic powers and focused scholarship eventually gave his art world-wide audience (and a Unesco recognition)" - "The New Indian Express (2011)

“..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<ref>RKG, India : A Nation in Turmoil, Vedam Books, New Delhi (2000), , p. 256

“Mani Madhava Chakyar when he portrayed Arjuna on the first evening and Ravana on the second, showed himself a master of the expression of the eye” - Dr. V Raghavan, renowned scholar of Sanskrit dramaturgy, classical Indian dance and music, connoisseur of art and former director of Samskritaranga- Chennai, 1962.

"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.

“His eyes were the unrivaled wonder of Abhinaya” - P.T. Narendra Menon (connoisseur of art), 1990

"The eyes of Kudiyattam has closed forever...the great lineage of Sanskrit theatre is adversely hit by the loss of this genious" - K. P. Narayana Pisharoty (Kutiyattam scholar) in 1990, on the death of Guru Mani Madhava Chakiar.

“Mani Madhava Chakyar was performing sikhinisalabha... Butterflies fly all around. Some of them fell into the fire below. The anguish was reflected in the actor’s eyes. Ha! There they come out without a burn! What a relief! They came again. The actor continued the performance. Only his eyes move… The audience was spellbound. They did not know that an hour has passed!” - About his world famous abhinaya of the shloka shikhinisalabha from Subhadradhananjayam.

“the greatest eye-wizard of the world!” - Stella Kramrisch - Curator of Indian Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA, c1980

“This is the first award I received...In fact, I consider this priceless. This was presented to me by Sri. Godavarma Bhattan Thampuran of Kodungallur (Cranganore) Palace years ago. I was only 22 then. Those were days when Kodungallur used to witness the best assembly of scholars in Sanskrit and the sasthras. Present on that day were several highly learned men and women. The stage was in front of Sringapuram temple. I presented Bhagavad Dooth Prabhantham Koothu. My interpretation of one of the slokas was a little more elaborate than and different from the custom-worn treatment. The audience liked it. In appreciation, Bhattan Thampuran removed this ring from his finger and put it on mine. The spontaneous gesture in recognition of my art naturally is the most precious to me ” -Guru Māni Mādhava Chākyār, about his prized possession- the golden ring from the great scholar H.H Bhattan Thampuran

“his Netraabhinaya is simply incomparable" - Kapila Vatsyayan (leading scholar of classical Indian dance), 1990

“Late Shri. Cakyar, was not just a skilled exponent and a capable teacher of Kutiyattam, his wisdom and depth of knowledge made him worthy of the title "Acharya" ” - Dr. Prem Lata Sharma (noted Hindi writer and scholar of Indian arts and literature), 1994

“(I got introduced to) the late and great Mani Madhava Cakyar’s King Udayana in Svapnavasavadatta. In what may have been among his last performances on the public stage I was fortunate to see Sri Cakyar, who at an advanced age, literally threw away his walking stick as he entered the stage to become a sprightly royal lover pining away for his beloved Vasavadatta. At his home in Likkadi he demonstrated the nava rasas... Sri Cakyar vividly illustrated to me that kutiyattam acting has the power to transform even the oldest person into the character he portrays” - Prof. Farley P. Richmond (Expert on Indian theatre), Department of Theatre and Film Studies, University of Georgia.