Margi Vijayakumar is a Kathakali artist who has specialised in female roles in the classical dance-drama from

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

, south

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. A disciple of the late

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair (27 March 1914 – 15 August 1990) was a Kathakali dancer from Kerala in India. Life He learned and exhibited various styles of Kathakali. A Padma Shri and Sangeet Natak Akademi Awardee, A native of Cheruthazha ...

, he has gained name in his poised handling of

Purana Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...

characters like

Damayanti ''Damayanti'' (Sanskrit: दमयंती) is a character in a love story found in the Vana Parva book of the Mahabharata. She was the daughter of Bhima (not the Pandava one) and a princess of the Vidarbha Kingdom, who married King Nala of ...

, Panchali,

Mohini Mohini (Sanskrit: मोहिनी, ') is the Hindu goddess of enchantment. She is the only female avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. She is portrayed as a '' femme fatale'', an enchantress, who maddens lovers and demons, sometimes leading them ...

and Kunti, mostly opposite star dancer

Kalamandalam Gopi Vadakke Manalath Govindan Nair popularly known as Kalamandalam Gopi, is an Indian dancer who is an exponent of the classical dance-drama style known as Kathakali. Life Born as Vadakke Manalath Govindan Nair in the Southern Indian village of ...

. The 1960-born Vijayakumar, a native of

Thonnakkal Thonnakkal is a village in Thiruvananthapuram district in Kerala, India. It is located on the National Highway 47 on the way to Kollam from the state's capital. It is located about 25 km from the state's capital Thiruvananthapuram. Mahakavi Ku ...

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

district, was initially trained under Thonnakkal Peethambaran, Inchakkattu Ramachandran Pillai, and Mankulam Vishnu Namboodiri. Equally at ease with choreographically dense roles and those that more profile the Kathakali character, many buffs consider Vijayakumar as a legitimate successor to septuagenarian Kottakkal Sivaraman. Vijayakumar lives in Kudavoor near Thiruvananthapuram.

References

Kathakali exponents Living people 1960 births Artists from Thiruvananthapuram Indian male dancers Dancers from Kerala 20th-century Indian dancers {{India-bio-stub