100-plus, but shrine musician continues devotional task

He is well past 100, but Padmanabha Marar never fails to be present in the wee hours every day at a temple to recite lines from a religious scripture on Lord Krishna and play percussion instrument 'edakka', a task his father entrusted with him over a century ago.
Be it heavy downpour, sweltering heat or biting cold, Marar, musician of Sree Ramaswamy temple at Ramapuram near Pala town, will rise at sharp 3 AM every day, take a dip in the temple tank and move to the shrine in dripping clothes and blow the conch to wake up the presiding deity.

For decades he has been playing "edakka" and reciting lines from Jayadeva's celebrated 'Gita Govinda', known in local parlance as "ashtapadi" based on the structure of the composition.
Believed to have been composed in the 12th century, Gita Govinda describes the relationship between Lord Krishna and his female companions "Gopikas" of Vrindavan with special focus on Radha, his favorite.
It has been a tradition in many temples in Kerala to render portions of the lyrical composition in mornings and evenings when devotees throng the shrines.
Hailing from a family of temple percussion players and musicians, Marar says he was entrusted with the devotional task when he was just an 8-year-old by his father Sanakar Marar.

He said as far as he could remember it was in 1913 that he was brought to the temple by his father to start learning and performing the percussion instrument and the recital of 'ashtapadi'.
Soon, he had to give up schooling to learn the subtle nuances of temple music tradition of Kerala, called "sopana sangeetham," recited by musicians with the accompaniment of "edakka" known for its light timbre.