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Chambadan Veetil Narayanan Nair (23 December 1905 – 27 June 1944) was a popular Kalarippayattu practitioner. He took Kerala's physical culture to new heights. He is the founder of Kerala Kalari Sangham and the person who re-discovered Kalarippayat to its present form. During the 1930s he was invited to Thripunithara Hill palace for a performance by Her Highness Parukutty Nethyar Amma to perform in front of Baroda Maharaja His highness Gaekwad, who was the Chief guest of that evening during his Cochin visit. After the performance her Highness Parukutty Nethyar Amma applauded and said "Your performance astonished and enthralled me. You are equal to all the heroes of our history. So from now on you will be known as 'Veera Shree C.V.Narayanan Nair'". With this incident, Shree Narayanan Nair became famous all over Kerala.

Personal life

C.V.Narayanan Nair was born to Chittarathu Odhayothu Kunjunni Nambiar and Thiruvangadu Chambadam Veetil Savithri Amma in Thiruvangadu, Thalassery. He was the 4th son to his parents. Chittarathu Odhayothu Kunjunni Nambiar was the "Adhikari of Puthooramsham". His younger brother's son is ex-minister P.R.Kurup. C.V.Narayanan Nair left his school education by the age of 14 and started working but he gained high knowledge in the Malayalam language. He also trained himself in different physical systems like Gymnastics, High jump, long jump and swimming. He was also an accomplished artist who loved to spend his time drawing pictures. Kerala School of Arts in Thalassery was founded by Sri C.V.Balan Nair, who was a very famous artist, Kalarippayat practitioner, Sculptor and Marma chikilsa physician, who was the younger brother of Sri C.V.Narayanan Nair. C.V.Narayanan Nair got married to Kattamvally Devaki Amma with whom he had six children and the eldest son was C.V.Govindan Kutty Nair, who founded C.V.N. Kerala Kalari Sangham in 1956. C.V.Narayanan Nairs other children are Sreedharan Nair, Lekshmi Kutty, Gopalakrishnan, Ramadas and Rajagopal.

Training

During this period there were no Kalari institutes in Thalassery. But there was an institute run by Kottakal Kanaran Gurukkal in Punol near Thalassery. He was a very highly acknowledge Gurukkal of Kalarippayat in that era. C.V.Narayanan Nair started training under Kottakal Kanaran Gurukkal and in a very short span became his favorite student. One the students of Kottakal Kanaran Gurukkal was also Sanjayan, the penname of Professor Mannikoth Ramunni Nair or M.R. Nair (1903 – 1944), was a Malayalam satirist famous for his humorous anecdotes. Sanjayan was born in Thalassery, a town in Kannur District of Kerala. Sanjayan's contribution to the Malayalam literature was mainly satirical essays criticizing the contemporary social state. He was closely related to a journal called "Kerala Patrika". He was the editor-in-chief of Viswaroopam, a satirical magazine in the Malayalam language. Professor Mannikoth Ramunni Nair advised Kottakal Kanaran Gurukkal to teach all the Techniques and hidden knowledge to C.V.Narayanan Nair as Kalarippayat was on the verge of extinction. Kottakal Kanaran Gurukkal also taught C.V.Narayanan Nair meditation and different treatment techniques like Uzhichil, Marma chikilsa and how to make herbal medicines.

Contributions

C.V.Narayanan Nair realized that with sole practice and running of his school, he wouldn't be able to bring back Kalarippayat to its completeness. So he started Kerala Kalari Sangham in 1933 and toured all over India starting from South Karnataka which went on for four years completing hundreds of stages. Thus he became famous even in Sri Lanka. In 1937 he traveled with the sangham to Sri Lanka which was the first Kalarippayat performance ever internationally. In 1938 the team came back to Thalassery and continued practice and spread the knowledge. Veera Shree C. V. Narayanan Nair's eldest son, Sri C. V. Govindan Kutty Nair has pledged his life to fulfill his father's last wish. He founded The CVN Kalari Sangham in 1956 and in 1958 Sri. C. V. Govindan Kutty Nair organized the first modern association of the Kalari's of Kerala, the Kerala Kalarippayat Association, affiliated to the Kerala Sports council with the help and guidance of late Sri Col Godavarma Raja with goals to set standards of practice and to accredit Kalari Schools.

Death

Due to Shree C.V. Narayanan Nair's constant physical effort, his health became critical, and on 24 June 1944, Veera Shree C.V.Narayanan Nair died. His last wish was "to construct a lot of Kalari's all around Kerala and to spread the knowledge of Kalarippayat in India and all over the world".