The bridge over the Padinjare Puzha

A view of the iron bridge. Photo: Thulasi Kakkat

The narrow iron bridge ( irumbu palam ) at Tripunithura may not be an engineering marvel. But this 125-year-old structure is certainly a heritage landmark. It is one of those early iron bridges in the country that is still in use.

History has it that the world’s first cast iron bridge was built at Coalbrookdale, Telford, in 1779 and is still in use carrying light transport and pedestrians. The iron bridge at Tripunithura was constructed in 1890 by Westwood and Baillie & Co., a Victorian engineering and construction company based at London Yard, Cubitt Town, London. Westwood, Baillie & Co. was established in 1856 by Robert Baillie and Joseph Westwood. For much of its life the company produced iron and steel work for bridges. In 1887, the company made the girders for the famous Lansdowne Bridge across the Indus River in Sindh, Pakistan, then the longest rigid girder in the world. The company wound up in 1893 and in 1895 Baillie was declared bankrupt. Westwood continued in business as Joseph Westwood & Co.

The Tripunithura bridge was built during the reign of Kerala Varma V also referred to as Chingamaasathil Theepetta Thampuran (the maharajah who died in the month of Chingam). It connected the western and eastern banks of a river popularly called the

Padinjare Puzha (the western river).

According to the late M. Raman Namboodiri of the Archaeological Survey of India, this river is the historical Poorna. In his work

PoornayudePuravrutham he explores the origin and course of the Periyar’s tributary till the great flood of 1341.

With the flood many rivulets changed course. Raman Namboodiri has described the boat jetty on the eastern banks, behind the Sree Poornathrayeesa Temple, as an important trade link to Tripunithura.

Ramabhadran Thampuran, a member of the erstwhile Cochin Royal Family remembers the brisk trading activities that happened here. “Among the many interpretations regarding the etymology of Tripunithura I would like to believe that it had something to do with

thura , which roughly means a landing place, a portion of the land and water body suitable for the launching and parking of boats. So, Tripunithura was a sort of port like Poonithura on the western banks of the river. Later, when it became the capital of the Cochin State with its palaces and fort it came to be called Thiru Poonithura, the prefix used to show respect. This is due course became Tripunithura.”

Ramabhadran Thampuran adds, “I remember kettuvallams or huge country boats loaded with vegetables, rice and other goods anchored on the eastern banks of the river. From here the goods were loaded on to pushcarts and taken to the Tripunithura market. A narrow wooden bridge was there but most people preferred to use some sort of water transport to cross the river.” These trading activities at the jetty continued for many more years after the iron bridge was built.

The wooden bridge was nothing but a thin wooden plank fixed over rows of coconut tree trunks piled onto the river bed. Dr. K.T. Rama Varma in his book Kairali Vidheyan Rama Varma Appan Thampuran writes that it required acrobatic skills to walk over this wooden plank that kept swaying each time one took a step. He adds that no one tried to swim across the river as it was infested with crocodiles. In fact, crocodile hunting was a popular pastime in and around the backwaters of Ernakulam those days. This pastime also finds mention in an article written by C.S. Gopala Panikkar in Rasika Ranjini . The river and the bridge were one of the entry points to the royal town of Tripunithura. “The town was fortified and there were three huge gates on the north and east sides. A trench and fortifications were there on the south, while on the west stood the bridge, which was heavily guarded day and night. The gates would open early in the morning but only those permissible by order were allowed to cross over. At six in the evening, when the acharavedi (ceremonial bursting of barrel crackers) was heard the gates were shut. No one was permitted to enter the town after this. At the iron bridge where there were no gates the guards ensured this security. Only for the annual temple festival and for Athachamayam were the commoners allowed to enter the town,” says Ramesh Thampuran, a member of the Cochin Royal Family who has written extensively on the family genealogy and its history.

The temple festival had events round the clock. “For most of us the sights and sounds of the festival began with the arrival of the elephants. They used to swim across the river, a little further away from the jetty, and were then walked to the open ground nearby,” remembers Ramabhadran Thampuran.

The bridge built to allow horse-drawn carriages and the occasional motor car now bears the brunt of heavy traffic. The authorities have constructed footbridges on either side to enable pedestrians walk across. Time has certainly taken its toll on this bridge. Reports show that the bridge is weak and needs strengthening.

This historic iron bridge stands as an example of the progress and the development of engineering, architecture, and technology. It is living history, a direct, tangible link to a significant period in time.