Palayam, at the far end of MG road, is a very wide hill top. No wonder it was chosen for establishing the cantonment. The signs of history are still there. Inside the new Legislative Assembly Complex is the old office of the Nair Brigade. The parade grounds (Koth or Kavaath Maidanam) of the army are now stadiums. The barracks with curved wooden beams and tin sheet roofs are tucked away between Mascot Hotel and the Wills Hostel. The office of the commanding officer of the army still exists behind the Senate Hall of the University (the old building where the Travancore University began functioning in 1937). The main places of worship in Palayam also are related to the army. The Ganapathy and Hanuman temple were for soldiers of Hindu faith (both served by the same priest at one point of time), and the ‘Cheria Thaikavu’ (Thaikavu is a reference to a Muslim prayer hall) or Palayam Juma Masjid for the followers of Islam, built in 1813 and rebuilt in the present in 1967 (Pattanis or Pathans still get special roles in its administration).
The Christ Church was for Britishers and native Christians. At Palayam, as the ‘MG Road Hill’ begins to run down towards Pattom, one can notice many hillocks. Towards the right is the 100-year-old Nalanda, which houses the State Institute of Languages in a place known earlier as ‘Manchadivila’. The Institute office was earlier ‘Reddatiar Bunglow’. ‘Reddatiar’ is a Scottish word for red earth (a common colour of the soil in southern Thiruvananthapuram), given by the Scottish officer who resided there. Sir Simon, the Durbar physician, was the last Britisher to stay there. Nandan Menon, the then Vice-Chancellor, renamed it as ‘Nalanda’ when he stayed there and the founder director of the Bhasha Institute corrected it as ‘Naalanda’. Symmetric to Naalanda is Barton Hill, which was the site of the bungalow of civil engineer Walthew Clarance Barton, who led the construction of the Secretariat, which he could see from the top of the 41-metre hill (same height as the ground on which the Secretariat is built). The hill, which is now crowded with an engineering college, law college and hostels of the Institute of Management in Government, also had two names earlier – Peppatti Kunnu (as it housed an office to treat rabies) and Gundu Kaadu (because gun shots were fired from here to mark the time).
At PMG junction, the National Highway dips from the ‘MG Road Hill’ to the Pattom valley, and immediately thereafter begins to rise again. On the left are two hills, one on which the Pattom Palace stands and, thereafter, the Thulasi Kunnu, which is currently the location of the office of the Public Service Commission. The right side of the road descends to the Marappalam-Muttada road, where one can still see the vestiges of paddy fields.
At Kesavadasapuram, the road to Ulloor is on the hill valley and the road to the right, the MC road, begins with a climb. On the right we find the Paruthippara hill (60 m), on which the MG College stands. Still further up is Nalanchira, where Mar Ivanios College is situated on an elevation (77m). The Mar Ivanios College tower is visible from any point in the city, which affords line of sight, due to this elevation. The view of the city from the tower of the Mar Ivanios College is breathtaking. The ‘chira’ or pond referred to in Nalanchira is a large rectangular pond in the hill valley, beside the Nalanchira Udiyanoor Siva Temple.
Kannammoola is yet another hill (35 m) that leads you to the famous Veli hills . Kannammoola hills is believed to be the spot where Velu Thampi’s dead body was desecrated.
This act has been the described in Cassell’s Illustrated History of India.“His [ Velu Thampi's ] body was stripped, taken to Trivandrum and exposed on upon a gibbet. This proceeding, though said to be an act of the Raja, was strongly censured by the Governor General, who held that the resident had made himself responsible, by neither preventing the exposure nor proclaiming his disapprobation. The ends of justice were served were the Dewan ceased to exist, and the attempt to carry punishment further was repugnant to humanity and the principles of civilised governance.
Why Kannammoola was chosen is not known. If they came by road, then the Kannammoola-Ulloor road may have been in use and they chose the first hilly spot inside the town and also overlooking a flat valley of Petta (many people of European origin were living in nearby Petta) and Vanchiyoor. If they came by boat also, Kannammoola is the first hilly terrain, from Chakka.
Emily Gilchrist Hatch who wrote Travancore- A Guide Book For The Visitor in 1937 mentions Kannammoola hills and stories associated with it that is related to Velu Thampi: “A drive through Cannamoolay, a suburb of the city, leads past Cannamoolay hill, a place connected with the exposure of Velu Thampi’s body. There are many stories told of a headless ghost dragging his chains, haunting the hill top .”
Old timers from the city say that stories of Velu Thampi’s ghost spawned many other tales such as that of the ghost of a young woman called Ruth who appears as a strange wailing bird in the night. An old seminary, the present-day Kerala United Theological Seminary, and a vibrant college teaching engineering and technology have wiped off the memories of “ghosts” in Kannammoola hills. The seminary compound has an old world charm, perhaps sporting the longest remaining mud compound wall ( Kayyala ) in the city.
As one proceeds towards Ulloor, small elevations are seen on the left and one realises that the Medical College is established on a hill top (which was known as Darasara Kunnu ). There are senior citizens who claim that they saw the ruins of underground routes from the Medical College hill connecting it to Veli Hills.
Still further, as one continues towards Ulloor from Medical College, a junction is reached. The road to the left takes one to Prasanth Nagar and Velikunnu, both hilly terrains. Veli hills and/or Pulayanar Kotta are described by Emily Gilchrist Hatch in 1937 as “delightful Casuarine [Kattadi] tope where there is truly music in the trees. The hill overlooks Akkulam which flows into the Veli Lake. The hill used to be known as Pulayanarkotta”.
Pulayanarkotta (50 m) was once the abode of the Pulaya King of Thiruvananthapuram and affords a panoramic view of the land rolling down towards the sea side. A band stand built during the late 18th century in the hill tops is referred to by Emily. She says the hill was turned into a fuel plantation by planting casuarina. The place was once a favourite spot for hunting. The hill is referred to in ‘Mayoora Sandesham’, translated as ‘The Peacock Messenger’ by famous Malayalam poet Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer.
And in some three or four swift hours you spy
At last the well-known Veli Lake is by
Clusters of rocks in haughty might there frown
Like clouds that come to quench their thirst adown
With bosom, old companions would I hold
Sports in that quarter, oft in times of old
Beyond the hill is a forest land where I
In sportful mirth, with many a hunstmen by,
have chased and killed the leopard and the boar
Whose love for me is not yet wholly o'er
