With the passing away of Padmabhushan Guru Ammannur Madhava Chakyar on July 1, 2008, the world of Indian Performing Arts in general and Kutiyattam, in particular, had lost one of its ardent votaries and committed teachers. Founder-director of Ammannur Chachu Chakyar Smaraka Gurukulam at Irinjilakuda, he was, to a great extent, responsible for placing Kutiyattam on the world map of heritage traditions of artistic excellence. An actor endowed with great performance skills, his creative genius is nowhere better revealed than in his innovative explorations into the experiential modes of art, otherwise known for its preordained angika formulations and a strict performance grammar prescribed in the manuals. He, along with a handful of other liberal-minded adherents to the art, was responsible for taking Kutiyattam out of the portals of the Koothambalams in the temple precincts and through his performances, workshops and lecture demonstrations helped to showcase the ancestral art form for contemporary connoisseurs.