At Tripunithura’s Kannezhuthu Puthen Madhom, chamber concerts are giving new purpose to the 200-year-old ancestral home KOCHI: At Tripunithura’s Kannezhuthu Puthen Madhom, chamber concerts are giving new purpose to the 200-year-old ancestral homeAt a time when classical music is more often heard in packed auditoriums and temple precincts, a 200-year-old ettu kettu in Tripunithura is orchestrating a musical experience of a different sort. Built during the reign of Kochi ruler Shakthan Thampuran, Kannezhuthu Puthen Madhom was originally designed to accommodate a sprawling joint family. Today, its corridors and open courtyards have acquired a new role. Over the past year, the ancestral mansion has become an extension of the Varaveena School of Music, whose main centre functions from Valiya Thampuran Kovilakam in Irinjalakuda. The old residence is gradually evolving into a venue for chamber concerts, where performers and audiences share the same intimate space. On June 13, Hindustani vocalist Ustad Wasim Ahmad Khan, accompanied by Pandit Sanjoy Adhikari on tabla and Niranjan Hegde on harmonium, will perform inside the sprawling eight-halled mansion. The audience will number barely a hundred. The idea is not to replicate the scale of a conventional concert hall or auditorium. Instead, it seeks to bring musicians and listeners closer together, allowing audiences to engage more directly with the performance. “Intimate performances allow for a deep, conversational connection with the audience,” says Sreevidya Varma, founder of Varaveena School of Music. This is not the first concert at the house. A year ago, during the 80th birthday celebrations of Subhadra Varma, a family matriarch, a performance was arranged in the same spot. It was not planned as a regular event. Yet the experience lingered long after the evening ended. “We placed the musicians in a relatively small performance area next to the open nadumuttam,” recalls Sudheer Varma, one of the custodians of the ettu kettu. “It was raining lightly. The raindrops were falling into the courtyard. That combination, the music, the rain, the old building, felt different.” That evening reminded him of performances at the Navarathri Mandapam near Sree Padmanabhaswami Temple, a space known for its intimate atmosphere. Soon after, the family decided to open the ettu kettu for more such events. The architecture of the house lends itself naturally to such gatherings. Rooted in the principles of traditional thatchu shastra and vastu, the ettu kettu is organised around two central courtyards. “The east-facing ettu kettu has a spacious sit-out supported by massive laterite pillars,” says Chandrika Varma, the senior-most female member of Puthen Madhom. “When you enter through the front verandah, the nadumuttam is surrounded on all four sides by broad corridors that can comfortably accommodate nearly a hundred people.” The house features eight blocks with two courtyards. Traditionally, the vadakkini, or northern block, functioned as a prayer and meditation space, while the thekkini served as a repository for valuables and records. The kizhakkini housed the kitchen and dining areas, and the padinjattini contained the family’s living quarters. Inside the vadakkini are two rooms with floors once plastered with cow dung. One was used for funeral rites, while the other hosted rituals such as Ganapathy homam. At its peak, Kannezhuthu Puthen Madhom housed 35 family members and around 10 servants. Today, descendants live in separate homes around the ancestral property, returning periodically for family gatherings and rituals. Chandrika Varma remembers the house in its fuller days, the strict separation between the women’s and men’s wings, each room carrying its designated purpose. And now, music has given it a new lease of life. “The corridors of this timeless architectural wonder now echo with the sweet resonance of veena, violin, and detailed raga alap by young talented artists,” says Chandrika Varma. “On June 13, the ancient structure will be blessed with the elite glimpses of the Agra gharana.”
