Famous temple percussionist Padmanabha Marar passes away

Famous temple percussionist Padmanahha Marar passes away due to prolonged age-related illness on Wednesday night. He was on rest when he took his last breath at his own residence and was 113 years old.

Padmanabha began performing percussion at the age of eight and continued till the age of 110. He is popular known for his ‘Sopana Sangeetham’ in the temples of Kerala which is sung on the beats of small, hourglass shaped ethnic drum called ‘Edakka’.

His last performance was three years ago at the Lord Sri Rama temple in Ramapuram.

He was married to late Bhavani Amma and has four children, P GopalaKrishnan, Narayanan, Chandrasekharan as sons and Chandramathi Amma as his daughter.

He was even felicitated by the Sangeetha Nataka Akademi in 2014 with Gurupooja award for his contribution in propagating the temple music and art and deep knowledge of percussion forms.