Enchanting Kerala

KERALA TOURISM NEWSLETTER

Thunchan Memorial Trust

Thunchathu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan, the 16th century poet, is known as the father of Malayalam language-the principal language of the Indian state of Kerala. His works also popularised the writing system adopted by him, which is the current Malayalam alphabet.

Thunchan Parambu derives its name from Thunchathu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan, who rendered in his own distinctive poetic style the stories of great epics viz. the Mahabharata and the Ramayana.

The Government of Kerala constituted the Thunchan Memorial Management Committee in 1964 in order to propagate the vision and values of the great poet and to promote Malayalam language and literature. The Thunchan Memorial Trust was formed in 2001 to independently expand these activities under the leadership of legendary writer Mr. M. T. Vasudevan Nair.

The Thunchan Memorial Trust has facilities that include a Saraswathi Manadapam, a granite structure, an auditorium with a seating capacity of 500, an open-air stage, cottages for guests, dormitory, dining hall and two ponds. The research library here has a collection of around 15,000 books and 120 manuscripts. Computer and Internet facility are also available here. The University of Calicut has recognised it as a research centre and students, research scholars and those who love the language frequent the centre from all over the country.

The National Manuscript Mission has designated Thunchan Memorial Trust as its Manuscript Resource Centre to survey, document and electronically report manuscripts of north Kerala. The Thunchan Literary Museum was set up here in October 2008 and is the only one of its kind in any Indian language. The museum depicts the different stages of development of the Malayalam language.

The Thunchan festival held annually during the first week of February has emerged as a major cultural events in the country. The five-day festival is attended by eminent writers and scholars. Literary seminars, poetry reading sessions, cultural discourses, dance and music performances are the highlights of the festival. And during the festival time, the iron stylus with which Ezhuthachan wrote his poems is taken out in a grand procession.

The centre is also popular in connection with Vidyarambham, the ritual in which children are initiated into the world of letters. Eminent literary personalities lead the ritual held as a grand event on the Vijayadashami day.

Address
Thunchan Memorial trust
Thunchan Parambu
Tirur
Malappuram District
Kerala -676101
Tel: +91 494 242213, 2429666