By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,
Kochi: The culture of the Mappilappattu has helped a lot in boosting communal harmony, said TK Hamza, chairman of the Moin Kutty Vaidyar Memorial Committee. The former MP and leader of the CPI (M) was speaking at the function organised by the Kerala Sahitya Academy in Thrissur to commemorate the great poet Moin Kutty Vaidyar.
Mr Hamza opined that the Mappilappattu is the best example for the fact that art and cultre should be promoted to keep communal harmony. Mappilappattu was not the monopoly of Muslims alone in the Malabar area. People of other religions also took interest in writing, singing and enjoying mappilappattu. There was even ‘Mappila Ramayana’ there. Similarities with mappilappattu can be seen in the works of the great Malayalam poet Ezhuthachan. There are similarities in the poems of Kunchan Nambiar and Moin Kutty Vaidyar. The conservative sections had opposed him when Moin Kutty Vaidyar wrote the ‘Badrul Muneer Husnul Jamal’ 150 years ago. But the generation sang the mappilappattu and the oppositions ceased to exist. He added that the mappilappattu had contributed much to the Malayalam language.
Purushan Kadalundi, secretary of the Kerala Sahitya Academy, presided over the function.
Mappilappattu is a form of poem which is written mainly to sing according to the set tones known as ‘ishal’ and is supposed to have originated in Malabar. Moin Kutty Vaidyar is reverently called ‘Mahakavi’ which means great poet. The poet wrote his master piece ‘Badrul Muneer Husnul Jamal’, a beautiful romantic mappilappattu, 150 years ago. His work was a revolution as it popularized the genre of Mappilappattu. Vaidyar was a pioneer in various languages like Arabic, Tamil, Sanskrit etc besides Malayalam and all these languages found their place in enriching his works. His greatness can be known in the fact that students still sing his songs in competitions held in schools and colleges. However, the great poet was not much studied in the state like other poets. Now new studies are being conducted about his works as well as the society of the time.