The Hindu : Front Page : Padmanabhapuram palace to get facelift

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Sunday, Aug 17, 2008
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Padmanabhapuram palace to get facelift

P. S. Suresh Kumar

NAGERCOIL: The Government has allotted Rs. 42 lakh to give a facelift to famous wooden palace at Padmanabhapuram. Reputed to be the largest wooden palace in India, the Padmanabhapuram palace is today administered by the Kerala Government’s Department of Archaeology, even though it is located in Tamil Nadu. Originally, the area comprising the fort, the palace and its surroundings covered an area of 86 acres. Today the area administered by the Kerala Department of Archaeology is 6.5 acres.

Tourists can see a deep gutter on either side of the entrance to the palace. A large courtyard separates the main entrance, which was used by the king to receive visiting dignitaries.

At the centre of the hall, hanging from the carved ceiling, is a brass lamp, shaped like a horse-rider.

The southern side of the palace is Ootupura, a 78-metre-long double-storied building that houses two large dining halls, each of which can seat 1,000 persons at a time. Here the rulers of Travancore used to exhibit their legendary charity by serving free meals to 2000 Brahmins each day.

The centrepiece of attraction in the king’s bedroom is the huge four-poster bed made of 67 different pieces of wood from medicinal trees. The bed, which has a symbol of serpents entwined around a cross over a pot of nectar, is believed to have been gifted to the king by the Dutch East India Company during the time of Captain Adrian Van Goens, who complied the Hortus Indicus Malabaricus in the 16th century.

The third floor of the king’s quarters houses the puja room, filled with 8th century murals in dull, earth colours, bathed in yellow glow from the oil-wick lamps.

As almost all its structures are weak, it has been decided to renovate the palace. Entry of visitors will also be restricted by raising the entrance fee, according to official sources.

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