It is yet another tale of a historical monument lying in a shambles.
The Eraniel palace, about 20 km from Nagercoil, is regarded as a treasure house of the Venad history but its present state is a pale shadow of its glorious past.
The palace, now under the control of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Department of the State government, has traditional architectural characters from temple architecture of south India. Its notable features are low-tiled roofs, structures with central court yard (nadumuttam) and gable windows. According to sources in the Kerala government's Archaeology Department, Cheran Perumal, the most famous ruler of the Chera dynasty of the 8th century A.D., was said to have constructed the Eraniel palace and fort over an extent of around 3.5 acres of land.
The palace lost its importance after the Venad dynasty shifted its capital to Padmanabhapuram on completion of the Padmanabhapuram Palace around 1601. Two hundred years later, when Veluthampi Dalawa (Thalavai) was the chieftain of the Travancore kingdom during 1802-1809, it gained prominence again. One of the streets in Eraniel is called ‘Padayetti Theru' as it was from there that Veluthampi led an army to take on the British. On re-organisation of States in 1956, the Kanyakumari district became part of Tamil Nadu and the Eraniel palace and its fort came under the control of Devasom Board. The palace was used as godown for some years and this hastened its dilapidation.
At the entrance is the visitor's hall (yogamuri). It was where the then kings met select visitors. Beyond this is the inner hall (agathalam), guard's room, and kitchen. Next is the royal bedroom (vasantha mandapam) with a granite cot of five-foot width and six-foot length, made of a single stone. The palace was only an administrative office of the then kings but not the residential palace as their royal residence - Pamanabhapuram palace - was hardly five km from Eraniel. There was a ‘vaadavilakku', an ever burning light, in the vasantha mandapam.
Besides the chambers in the palace, there is a small tank for the royal bath and a secret tunnel for emergency escape. There were 23 tamarind trees on the premises of the palace. Of them, tamarind from one tree was very sweet and it was said to be used for the Kings.
According to former Director of Archaeology (Kerala government), V. Manmadhan Nair, who was closely associated with the conservation of the Eraniel palace for years, when Jagmohan was Union Culture Minister during 2001-2004, a proposal was submitted to him during his visit to the palace. Mr. Jagmohan had assured all kind of help to restore the palace to its past glory. The proposal was based on materials prepared by the Agency for Providing Traditional Solution on the Restoration of Built Heritage at Padmanabhapuram (as suggested by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage).
N. Ramasamy, Kollam-based conservation architect, suggests that the palace, after restoration along with the execution of necessary landscaping (with the help of old photographs) be converted into a museum. He points out that a lot of stone sculptures (in damaged condition), a tank and some antiques such as sword are under the custody of HR &CE Department of the Tamil Nadu government.
At present, the whole area is inaccessible due to thick growth of shrubs and bushes. It has become a haven for anti-social elements.
The government should declare this palace a heritage monument and bring it under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, says R. S. Lal Mohan, convener of the Nagercoil chapter of INTACH. The HR&CE Department here has sought the government's financial support for its proposal to renovate the palace at a cost of Rs. 2 crore. A committee, under the chairmanship of the District Collector, has also been proposed to supervise the execution.
This story was corrected for a factual error.
There are more important agenda as creating wealth for the party and persons in the party,
they have no time to look into mundane matters such as maintaining the historical icons! An
example of governance in the country at large! Shameful, is the kindest expression for such
cultural vandalism!
As the Eraniel palace is now in the hands of Tamilnadu government, it may not have much interest of preserving monuments pertaining to Kerala. Rightly INTACH has got interested and i am sure they would reconstruct the ancient structure. ASI should step in and take over maintenance.
Eighth Century BC is an extraordinary claim. If confirmed by tests like Radiocarbon dating, it would profoundly change Tamil, South Indian, Indian and World histories. Kerala's archeology department is known for its thoroughness, especially in the Pattinam Excavations. I am confident they would have done so. Else, they should do it before the place is 'contaminated' by tourists. They should also open the site to International experts for further studies.
Kudos to The Hindu for bringing out such gross neglect and apapthy of the powers-to-be in the matter.
One feels the whole concern of the Devaswom Board is to take what comes from ancestral temples and major centres of cultural tourism in terms of cash & other offerings and not spend anything there.
Look at the example set by Thailand, where, if you visit Bangkok, you are told about the wooden palace used by their kings. When we visit there, we see how well this 50-100 year old place is preserved. Note the recency of the building.
We have gems of historical importance which we fail to recognise. Unless some strong action, well focussed to this subject is taken, we will follow the footsteps of China where systematic destruction of culture and history is taking place. In this context, one is reminded of Lrd Maculay who stated that India has such a rich culture and heritage, the only way to conquer India is by erasing the eons old culture and heritage.
The article says the palace was built in 8th century B.C, which I think should be A.D..
I appreciate your efforts in highlighting the various historical monuments lying throughout the country. However, I feel that there is no effort to obtain and put the details of the artisan/craftsman who designed the monument and built it. 'THE HINDU' would be doing a great service to the artisan/craftsman class who endeavoured to design & build such classic monuments which are the proud heritage of our country.
Chera Dynasty in Kerala was in 8th century a.d. and not 8th century b.c.
Equally deplorable condition is another Maharaja's summer palace at THIRUPPATHISARAM , which is at the outskirts of Nagercoil Town. This beatiful palace is huge and monumental and it under utter neglect at the hands of Tamilnadu government. Anybody to take up this case of this palace please ?
As we are born in Thiruppathisaram and now we are settled in Mumbai for 40 years now, , I am not able to do anything in this matter.
The history of Chera dynasty is not well documented. Allowing the remaining part of hsiory to disappear is criminal. The arachaeology department needs to intervene and restore this monumnet.
It is a pity to see such monuments fall in the hands of "anti-social" elements in the community. Restoring, and preserving such monuments and keeping it within the public reach (other than converting to Private hotels) is exactly what needs to be done here. When people like Manmadhan Nair is no longer involved, the drive for restoring the place would lose public interest. We need a Government who is responsible and who can collaborate with Artists who are profecient in restoration work to rebuilt the thousands of monuments neglected in this country.
Much appreciate The Hindu for bringing these relics to life today. We as citizens should feel empowered about our proud heritage and not let our sense of indifference whittle away these cultural wonders amongst us. The glory of our past should no longer be relegated to history books, but, ought to be felt and lived by us and our children today - and for whom such marvels beg restoration.
It will be a national shame if this building is not restored to its original glory. We can not accept any grants from corruption ridden government in Delhi, so now it is for Amman and Tamil civil society to take up the cause. Many non-Tamil Indians will no doubt support the cause.
Would have been fate of Padmanabhapuram Palace too!
Veluthampi, like many others who fought the British, are being erased from history. They preceded Gandhi by decades, almost a century! It is a pity that the dominant storyline in the history of India's struggle to overthrow the colonial empires is just Gandhi and the I.N.C, ad nauseum. Ever paused to think, what would have happened, but for WW-II ?
The ruling period of the Chera chieftain, Cheran Perumal, has been mentioned in the above article as 8 century BC. Should not this be 8th century AD?
Through this article came to know there is a palace in Eraniel. We Indians are very good at not protecting our heritage and valuables. The southern tip of Tamilnadu is always a neglected area. People there dont know how to project annd market places of interest. If this was say in USA, Oh My God! it would flock thousands of visitors. Thannk you Hindu for letting us know about this.
Its disappointing the way we treat our history. These structures are just not buildings , they are our past and representative of our culture. Its surprising we have ministries allocated to these areas. The problem however is just not of money and govt inaction. It is also , one of personnel. Me included how many of us actually look towards a career in ASI or any allied fields ?
"Cheran Perumal, the most famous ruler of the Chera dynasty of the 8th century B.C." Cheraman Perumal used to be a title of Chera Kings. The Era ought to be CE/AD and not BC. I could not understand if Eraniel is still in Kerala or is it in Tamilnadu.
Sad indeed! I do not understand why Keralites have so little pride in their own cultural history. Indians look to the west for everything else... why cant we learn from Britain and other western countries about how to preserve monuments of historical importance !
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