When Krishnabalan Paliath, manager of the Paliam Trust, took stock of the situation after the recent floods, he was heart-broken to see some of the most valuable artefacts of the Paliam Museum lying strewn around the place in the thick slush left behind by the swirling waters.
All the work of piecing together the pages of history surrounding the Paliam Palace, the home of the Paliath Achans, who were the hereditary Prime Ministers of the erstwhile Kochi kingdom, was in ruins.
The Paliam palace was designated as a museum as part of the Muziris Heritage project after the Pattanam excavations threw up remnants of the history of the legendary port of Muziris. The Chendamangalam-Kodungallur stretch too was included in the heritage project. The Paliam Palace and the traditional home of the aristocrats of Paliam, the Nalukettu, were important part of the historical era. All that now lay in tatters.
The Paliath Achans wielded power next only to the Kochi Kings. All the official functions of the Achans were documented and archived. The thaliyola (palm leaf manuscripts) of the palace, which contained some of the great Sanskrit and Malayalam literature of the times, were prized possession of the museum.
All the artefacts of the museum, urulis (bronze vessels) and urns of various sizes, swords, guns, elephant caparisons made of gold and other valuables, silver and gold figurines, traditional puja utensils, mural paintings, sketch of the Paliam estate and several documents related to the functioning of the erstwhile kingdom lay strewn in the thick slush.
Mr. Paliath was at a loss to put in tangible terms the extent of havoc the floods had wreaked. “One cannot put an estimate on the invaluable collection of a tradition and heritage that lies hidden between the palm leaf manuscripts and the documents that were related to the erstwhile kingdom of Kochi. I really did not know where to make a beginning in salvaging the treasures of the place”, said Mr. Paliath.
Coming to the rescue was a team of experts from the Indian National Committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites and the Rome-based inter-governmental organisation dedicated to the preservation of cultural heritage worldwide, International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, who sent their co-ordinator, Surya Prasanth, conservation architect, to the Paliam Trust. “It is the initial work of salvaging the artefacts that we had begun here”, said Ms. Prasanth, who is familiar with the work at Paliam.
The process involved in salvaging the palm leaves and other artefacts is a tedious one and it requires the eye of an expert to handle it.
The Paliam Nalukettu, where the artefacts of the old kitchen were put up on display for the visitors to have an idea of what the kitchen of old looked like, was submerged in the waters. Many items had been retrieved and they would have to be cleaned and processed to set up the kitchen again, Ms. Prasanth said.
Helping with her work are conservationists from the Muziris project. Drying and documenting the damaged artefacts have already begun.
“We have the support of many international conservation experts, who had visited the museum earlier”, said P.M. Noushad, managing director of the Muziris Project. “This is a big assurance as there are no standardisation processes in conservation in the State’s archaeological department. We are positive that we will be able to salvage and restore most of the damaged items”, he said.
Experts like historian Dr. Veluthattu Keshavan, who specialises in epigraphy, had visited Paliam Museum to help preserve the palm leaf documents. As far as the work in financial terms was concerned, there was an insurance cover to it, he said. The Muziris Proejct had spent ₹7 crore in creating the museum.
The Nalukettu kitchen display had been completed only recently as were the conservation work of the mural paintings. All the process that the artefacts were subjected to after they were discovered and restored as part of the Muziris Project would have to be repeated to save them from being ruined in the wet environs left by the
