Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar’s tanpura being taken out of his house at Kottayi near Palakkad on Thursday.
The tanpura used by Carnatic legend Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar was taken in a procession to Guruvayur on Thursday ahead of the Chembai Music Fest being held as part of the Guruvayur Ekadasi from Friday.. It will reach Guruvayur on Friday afternoon.
The legendary tanpura was taken out of Chembai’s house at Kottayi in a festive ambience. Chembai Videyapeeth president Chembai Suresh and secretary Keezhathur Murugan handed over the tanpura to Guruvayur Devaswam president V.K. Vijayan and administrator K.P. Vinayan.
P.P. Sumod, MLA, was the special guest at the function. Guruvayur Devaswam members Manoj O. Nair, K.R. Gopinath, and C. Manoj, Vaikom Venogopal, Thiruvizha Sivanandan, N. Hari, Guruvayur Manikandan, Kuzhalmannam Ramakrishnan, Gayatri Thamban, T.K. Devadas, and Zainuddin Pathirippala were present.
The tanpura will be taken to Chembai Memorial Government Music College here on Friday morning. It will then be carried to Poozhikkunnu Sri Krishna Temple at Ottapalam, where Chembai had staged his first and last concerts. Kerala Kalamandalam will also receive the tanpura on its way to Guruvayur.
Devaswam Minister K. Radhakrishnan is to inaugurate the Chembai Music Fest at Melpathur Auditorium, Guruvayur, on Friday afternoon.
