Gandhi Seva Sadan located in Perur village, some 12 kilometres east of Ottapalam in Palakkad district of north-central Kerala in southern India. It was founded in 1953 by the (late) Gandhian and freedom fighter K. Kumaran.

After his release from imprisonment during freedom struggle, K. Kumaran moved to Mumbai where he worked as a full-time Congress volunteer and led a volunteer team at the 1945 All India Congress Committee (AICC) session. During this period he came into contact with Mahatma Gandhi and other Congress leaders, whose emphasis on village-centred development influenced his later work.

Inspired by Gandhian ideas of rural reconstruction, K. Kumaran returned to his native village of Perur and initiated activities that led to the establishment of Gandhi Seva Sadan. With financial assistance from local residents, he purchased a small number of charkhas (spinning wheels), which formed the basis of the institution’s early village industry activities.

In 1947 Gandhi Seva Sadan started a Basic Education school based on Gandhian educational principles. Sarojini Amma, who had received training in Basic Education at the Gandhi Ashram in Tiruchengode, assisted in developing these educational initiatives. She later married K. Kumaran and participated in the institution’s programmes in Perur.

During the same period, the organisation expanded its village industries section, producing hand-made goods and providing local employment. In 1948 K. Kumaran was invited to take responsibility for work at the Faridabad refugee camp with the offer of financial support for Gandhi Seva Sadan. He declined the opportunity, choosing instead to remain in Perur and continue developing the institution’s rural education and community programmes.

Gandhi Seva Sadan also runs a Kathakali institution.

Having celebrated its golden jubilee, Sadanam Kathakali and Classic Arts Academy is one of the four oldest schools providing training in the classical dance-drama of Kathakali in the traditional residential (gurukula) style. The most prominent among today's Kathakali exponents from Sadanam have all had tutelage under Padma Shri Keezhpadam Kumaran Nair.

Sadanam has been listed in the official tourism sites of the Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala, India.^[1]

Gandhi Seva Sadan also runs a teachers training institute, a senior secondary school (affiliated to the CBSE) and a computer training center under its management.

Sadanam has a tradition of inviting the greatest of gurus of Kathakali and Rasa Abhinaya as its trainers. The stalwarts of yesteryear include Guru Kunchu Kurup for Kathakali and Kutiyattam maestro Natyacharya Mani Madhava Chakyar for Rasaabhinaya and Netraabhinaya (both Padma Shri awardees).

Sadanam has had several prominent exponents in its faculty, the longest-serving among them includes the late Keezhpadam Kumaran Nair. The students have earlier also had training under veteran gurus like the late Thekkinkattil Ramunni Nair, Padma Bhushan Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair, the late Kalamandalam Padmanabhan Nair and Kottakkal Krishnankutty Nair, besides late masters like Kadathanattu Govindan Nambisan, Kalamandalam Neelakantan Nambisan, Kalamandalam Unnikrishna Kurup, Kalamandalam Krishnankutty Poduval, Kalamandalam Chandra Mannadiyar, Tirur Nambissan and Kalamandalam Appukutty Poduval.

• Kathakali
• Classical Indian dance
• Arts of Kerala
• Mohiniyattam
• Kutiyattam
• Māni Mādhava Chākyār
• Nātyakalpadrumam
• Thulall
• Panchavadyam
• Kerala Kalamandalam

• Kathakali events at kathakali news. Archived 10 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine