Ancestors

He was born on January 2, 1878 to Eswaran Namboothiri of Nilavana Illam and mannathu Parvathy Amma of a respectable Nair family near Changanassery, in North Travancore.

Padmanabhan started his career as a teacher in 1893 in a Government Primary School. After a few years he changed his profession and took up legal practice from 1905 onwards. He started practising law in the Magistrates' Courts and soon became an established member of the Bar.

In 1914, he with the help of a few others, established the Nair Service Society, his main ambition was to uplift the Nairs and to regain the lost power of this former ruling sect. From 1915 onwards, he gave up a lucrative practice and became full-time secretary of the Nair Service Society.

In 1924 he took part in the Vaikom and Guruvayoor temple-entry and anti-untouchability agitation. He even opened his family temple for everyone irrespective of any caste distinction. He became a member of the Indian National Congress in 1947 and took part in the Travancore State Congress agitation against Sir C.P. Ramaswamy Iyer’s administration in Travancore.

In 1949 Padmanabhan became a member of the Travancore Legislative Assembly. In 1959 he led a united opposition against the State Communist Ministry. This struggle is called Vimochana Samaram which means liberation struggle. The immediate cause of the outbreak of the Vimochana Samaram was the introduction of an Education Bill by the Minister of Education Joseph Mundassery. The immediate effect of the Vimochana Samaram was the dismissal of the Communist government under E.M.S. on July 31, 1959 and the beginning of President’s rule in the state under Article 356 of the Indian Constitution. One notable feature of the movement was its massive student participation led by the student leaders like A.K. Antony, Oommen Chandy, etc.

Padmanabhan was involved with Nair Service Society as its Secretary for 31 years and as its President for 3 years. He was honoured with the title ‘Bharata Kesari’ from the President of India. He also received Padma Bhushan in 1966.

He died on February 25, 1970.

He's my grand mother's grand father. Proud to have a legend of his stature in the family :)

Guru Chandrasekharan was a great dancer and choreographer who was born in Trivandrum in 1916.  His father was artist NK Nair (Kunju Krishna Kurup), a notable oil painter. While studying at the university, he started practicing dance.  Without informing his parents, he studied Kathakali under the guidance of Guru Gopinath. During that period, Gopinath received royal patronage from the Travancore palace and a dance school named 'Sri Chithrodaya Nartha Kalalayam' was established by the Government at Poojappura, Travancore. Chandrasekharan was a student of that school. After some time, Chandrasekharan learnt Kathakali under Nedumudi Narayana Kurup who was also a palace artiste. Later, he organized his own troupe and conducted performances in important cities of India. During that period, social themes were rarely used in classical dances. He directed and choreographed several social themes in dance form. In 1943 on an invitation from the Government, he took his troupe to Alexandria (Egypt), Middle East and Italy for military entertainment as the Indian Army was engaged in World War II. At the close of the war in 1946, he again tried to go to the Far East, but the tour ended at Jafna, in Ceylon. 

He served as a dance professor at Shantiniketan, West Bengal, as member of the Kerala University Senate, Board of Directors at Kerala Kalamandalam Governing body, Advisory Committee member Malayalam Encyclopedia and visiting dance professor of Swathi Thirunal College of Music.   In the late forties, at the insistence of some of his friends, he composed and presented the 'Voice of Travancore,' a political theme in dance form, which depicted the autocratic rule of the Dewan, Sir CP Ramaswamy Iyer and people's movement of resistance thereon. However, Sir CP was an admirer of Chandrasekharan's art and every year he used to arrange his dance programs at his official residence at Bhaktivilas. He received his highest honour when he was praised in the report published by the All India Educational Conference held in Trivandrum in 1946.  

After a couple of years, he came back from Viswabharathi and started his own school at Trivandrum in the name Prathibha Nrithakala Kendra. During 1954, he performed 'Thilakkunna Mannu' (Simmering Sand) that had a social theme advocating agrarian revolution. It received wide acclamation from celebrated persons like President Rajendra Prasad and Dr. Radhakrishnan. 

Chandrasekharan's creative contributions include such compositions as 'Voice of Travancore,' 'Manishada,' 'Siva Thandavam,' 'Ganesh Nritham,' 'Ardhanareeswara,' 'Surya Nritham,' 'Geethopadesam,' Kalidasa's 'Kumara Sambhavam,' 'Sakunthalam,' Kumaran Asan's 'Chandala Bhikshuki,' Vallathol's 'Magdalana Maria,' 'Guruvum Sishyanum,' Vayalar's 'Ayisha,' Changampuzha's 'Ramanan' and 'Markandeyan,' 'Mohini Rugmangada,' 'Savithri,' 'Dakshayagam,' 'Ekalavyan,' 'Chilappadikaram,' Greek story 'Pygmalion,' Chinese story 'Fisherman's Revenge,' Japanese story 'Esashiyuvo' (Prapidiyan Pathalathil), Bible story 'Salome' and a lot more. He successfully composed and performed several ballets such as 'Sri Guruvayurappan,' 'Kumara Sambhavam,' 'Sri Ayyappan,' 'Hrishya Sringan' and 'Sri Hanuman.' 

He produced another ballet named 'Himavante Makkal' (Children of the Himalayas) in 1964 on the background of the India's history, which concluded with the Chinese attack on India in 1962. After seeing it, VV Giri, then Governor of Kerala, was so happy that he invited Chandrasekharan to Raj Bhavan and honored him.

In 1965, Chandrasekharan composed an opera which was the first of its kind in Malayalam as well as in any other Indian language. The opera was based on the Mahabharata character Karnan. Chandrasekharan himself played the role of Karna while nearly hundred others took part in it, which was presented in Trivandrum for more than a month. The opera was produced by Kala Nilayam Theatres of late Thaniniram Krishnan Nair. Chandrasekharan later produced another opera entitled 'Bhishmar' on the Mahabharata hero which was an artistic success, but financially a flop, which forced him to withdraw from the scene partly. However, he continued his activities till 1980.