Bards of Guruvayur: Melputhur Narayana Bhattathiri

The drive along the highway from the famous Tirunavaya temple towards Puthanathani in the Ponnani Taluk and Kurumbathur region of the Malappuram district of Kerala is quite picturesque.

- SULINI V NAIR

About two miles away from Tirunavaya is a nondescript sign on the side of the highway announcing that the Chandanakkavu temple is close by. It is a quiet wooded grove with a variety of large trees including sandalwood; easy to drive across as just another beautiful countryside vista. But quietly nestled here, not known to many, are the legendary Chandanakkavu temple and the ruins of what once was the renowned Melputhur Nam. Vasudevan Namboodiri in his poetic work Bhramarasandesham describes Chandanakkavu as "the place resonant with the voices of Matrudatta's disciples engaged in learning the shastras." Matrudattan Namboodiri was an authority on the Veda, Mimamsa, Tantra and other shastras. He married a girl from the Payyur Illam which was the ancestral home of scholars well-versed in Mimamsa philosophy. Melputhur Narayana Bhattathiri was their second son.

More than four hundred years ago the Chandanakkavu temple was a great centre of learning. There are three main temples here; one to Bhagavati on the northern side, to Vishnu on the southern side and to Ganapati in the centre. Within each of these there are many more deities enshrined, and in all there are eighteen of them. The Ganapati temple was the most prominent and it was here that Vedadhyayana took place. Children from nearby Illams would congregate at the temple for their lessons under Madhavan Bhattathiri who taught Vedic chanting. There were also other gurus who taught Sanskrit and the Vedas. Matrudattan Namboodiri too taught at the Chandanakkavu temple and had disciples learning Vedangas such as Shiksha, Chhandas, Vyakarana and Nirukta, Mimamsa, Vedanta and various Sutras under him.