The restoration work of the Perdoor Magane Chavady quarter of the 500-year-old mud palace at Sural village, about 30 km from Udupi, will be completed here within a fortnight. Work on it began in 2013.
The palace belongs to the House of Tulu Jain Tholahars, the Jain chieftains, who ruled parts of Udupi district, and is said to be have been built in 1511. One of the unique features of the palace is that it has no foundation.
Apart from the palace being built completely with mud, Hopea wood, jack wood and wild jack wood was also used. Wooden pillars support the roof, using the inter-lock method, without a single nail being used.
Its restoration was taken up by the Nirmiti Kendra at a cost of Rs. 1.6 crore, funded by the Department of Archaeology, Museums and Heritage, under the Ministry of Kannada and Culture.
The palace has ‘angalas’ (courtyards) and a ‘Pattada Chavadi’ or (royal durbar room), and a small shrine of Padmavati Amma. Though the first efforts to restore it began 1990s, there were many roadblocks. After persistent efforts by the district administration, restoration of only one portion was sanctioned in 2013.
The 5,000 sq. ft Chavady is now being built using laterite stones cemented together using a mixture of slaked lime, sugarcane molasses and extract from leaves of Slow Match Tree (Careya arborea) as was used in its original construction. “These materials bring down the room temperature. We have maintained originality in the entire restoration,” said T. Harish Pai, a restoration expert, who is in charge of the restoration. Mr. Pai said this quarter was used by women. “There were wooden blinds through which they could see into the courtyards below,” he said.
The Tholahars were prominent till 1691 as per a copper plate inscription of Queen Madanadevi Tholaharti. They ruled from Sural for 400 years and co-operated with the Alupa and Vijayanagara dynasties. “The restoration of the entire palace will make people aware of the rich heritage of coastal Karnataka,” said Mr. Pai.
