Brahmasree O Kesavan Nadar Swami
Date of Birth:- Period of Living 1904 – 1967.
Place of Birth:- Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
Details of Family:- Brahmasree O Kesavan Nadar Swami was born in the year 1904 Kolla Varsham Malayalam Calendar 1079 as the son of Vaidyasree Ummini Nadar, who served as the physician of the military in the Travancore Royal family. He lived in the 19th century at Kaimanam of Thiruvananthapuram District of Kerala. His family had a strong background in Kalari and Marma Chikitsa.
Educational Qualifications:- His training on Kalari, Marma Chikitsa, Yoga (the branch of philosophy promulgated by Maharṣhi Patanjali dealing with the union of the soul and the supreme), etc., was through the Gurukula (residential monasteries or schools) education system. He had been taught the Kalari and Marma Chikitsa mainly by his father and uncles. He also learned some lessons from his brother-in-law. He studied a few rare treatment methods from his great Guru (teacher) Karimkal Gurupadam Asan.
Professional Trajectory:-
Pioneering Contributions to the field of Marmasastra:-
He started his journey as ‘Granted Physician of the Travancore Royal Family’ at Poojappura. During the reign of Shri Chithira Tirunal and the tenure of C.P Ramaswami Iyer (the Advocate General of Madras Presidency), he was appointed as ‘Marma Vaidya’ at Government Ayurveda College, Trivandrum, in 1930. He served at Government Ayurveda College Thiruvananthapuram throughout his formal professional life and retired as Chief Marma Physician.
Within a short period, Kesavan Vaidya was established as a Marma expert for the poor and the rich in the community. In the meantime, he learned about Karimkal Gurupadam Asan, a highly expert in Kalari and Marma Chikitsa residing in the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu. The Vaidya was eager to acquire knowledge from him, but his limited financial resources prevented him from traveling to meet Karimkal Gurupadam Asan. Even though this person was unreachable to him, he got an opportunity to meet him by a mere coincidence that transformed his life.
As a faculty:- Brahmasree O Kesavan Nadar Swami was appointed as the first physician in the Marma Chikitsa department of Govt. Ayurveda College, Thiruvananthapuram. He got an appointment directly from the Royal family of Travancore. He retired from his service in 1956 as the head of the department of Marma Chikitsa, Govt. Ayurveda College, Thiruvananthapuram.
As a propagator of Marmasastra:- He strongly recommended that Marma Chikitsa must be taught at Ayurveda Colleges along with Ayurveda. He taught the basic principles of Agasthya Marma Sastra to the new generation and documented them in a practical, helpful manner. Marma Chikitsa was only publicized through oral teaching methods at that time. But Kesavan Nadar Swami tried to make it in a documented form and was taught to the students of Govt. Ayurveda College, Thiruvananthapuram.
Special contributions:- He taught some special diagnostic tools used in Marma Sastra to the newer generation. He systematically used the different types of medicines, bandage techniques, and splints and documented all those things to teach future generations. He introduced the current bandaging techniques to the curriculum of Govt. Ayurveda College Thiruvananthapuram, which was adopted from Agasthya Marma Sastra. Kesavan Vaidya also contributed some rare and effective Ayurvedic formulations, the famous formulation Murivenna was one such type that is widely used nowadays.
Skills in surgery:- He was also skilled in surgery and practiced some rare transplantation techniques using the bones of a goat for the treatment of fractures. Chattuka Cheeli, Palaka Cheeli, etc., are some splints he introduced based on Agasthya marma sastra for treating fractures. He was a famous Kalari practitioner also.
Social Service:- Brahmasree O Kesavan Nadar Swami lived when Kerala’s caste system was more dominant. He protested for the rights of downtrodden sections of the society. At that time, a protest against the caste system to protect the oppressive sections of the community was organized by Sahodaran Ayyappan, a social reformer in Kerala, in 1917. A revolutionary event of inter–dining (Panthibhojanam) for people of different castes took place, and Kesavan Vaidya participated in that event.
Spiritual life:- After retirement, he led a spiritual life. He was a devotee of Sri Sivananda Paramahamsar and propagator of Sidha Veda principles. He believed that Sidha vidya or Sidha Veda (A particular type of philosophy) was the only way to realize oneself. He thought that he had attained all the goals of his life and had a spiritual intuition about the end of his life. Before leaving this world, he informed his close friends about his approaching death and attained Samadhi on January 17, 1967.
His descendants kept his samadhi place as a sacred place. A holy lamp is ignited daily to pay homage to this respectable personality.