Madavoor Vasudevan Nair is a veteran and legendary Kathakali artiste and the recipient of the prestigious Padma Bhushan award from the government of India. He was born on April 7, 1929 in Madavoor-Pallickal, Thiruvananthapuram district. He is an equally famous and accomplished instructor of the Kaplingadan style of Kathakali performance and is also one of the last practitioners of the pristine south Kerala-style (Kaplingadan) school of the classical dance-drama from the south Indian state of Kerala. His contributions are widely acknowledged as the valuable lessons for the generations of contemporary performers and neophytes in this field. His mother was a renowned music vocalist and for the same reason he got attracted to Carnatic music at a younger age. He was also attracted to devotional songs and folk songs. Madavoor Parameswaran Pillai was his first Kathakali teacher and he started learning at the age of 10. He gave his initial performance just after 6 months where he did the role of Bhanumathi and Utharan in the play Utharaswayamvaram. Later he took extensive training under Guru Chengannur Raman Pillai for a period of 12 years.

He started his professional career in Travancore palace as an artist and was a part of "Travancore Palace Kathakali Yogam". During the early 1960s he became one of the prominent names of Kathakali artists from Kerala. Later he served as an instructor at Kerala Kalamandalam for long 10 years �¢?? the university of Kathakali, followed by Principal of Kala Bharathi Kathakali school. Between the year 1978 till 1990 he served as the Principal of Kala Bharathi Kathakali school. He has also served as an adviser to Kalamandalam several time. Madavoor Ashan served as a "A" grade Kathakali Musician of All India Radio, Trivandrum for almost 30 years.