Around 55 history enthusiasts explored Karamana and its adjoining areas under the aegis of the Heritage Walk Trivandrum on Sunday.
The region was selected for the ‘walk’ mainly owing to its importance associated with the development of Thiruvananthapuram city.
The bridge across the Karamana river is considered to mark the entry point into the city. The programme on Sunday commenced at the base of the bridge on the ‘ghat’ leading to the river.
According to Heritage Walk coordinator and archaeologist Bina Thomas, the historical significance of the river is primarily that it was around the water-body that the first phase of urbanisation in Thiruvananthapuram had taken place. This had occurred even before the immediate precincts of the Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple or the Fort area had been formally established.
Achuthsankar S. Nair, head of the Department of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, University of Kerala, and S. Hemachandran, former Director of the Archaeology Department, spoke about various aspects of Karamana including the history and heritage of the river, the settlements along the banks and the prominent personalities from the region.
The group later proceeded to the Subramaniam temple and the Kancheerpuram Maadan temple. Walking past the Government Girls’ Higher Secondary School by the river, the explorers reached the ‘Kalmandapam’, which was once frequented by Swati Tirunal, one of the greatest Carnatic music icons.
Further, walking past the Agraharam, the group reached the Thaliyal Mahadeva Temple and other temples along the ghats. They also passed by the Bharathi Sarada Mandiram, which, until recently, served as a home for widows and was completely managed by the widows themselves. They proceeded along the Dewan Nagam Aiyah Street and saw the residence of the Dewan Peishcar V. Nagam Aiya, who was a historian, civil servant, a chronicler of the erstwhile state of Travancore as well as the District Magistrate of Quilon. His seminal work, the Travancore State Manual, continues to be a very important document and reference on Kerala history and heritage.
