Lost in myths: The story of a Travancore legacy

Deprived sleep, missed alarm, scorching heat, missed breakfast and taking the stupid risk of jumping onto a running bus didn’t stop me from having a marvelous day unraveling one of the majestic palaces in the heart of Trivandrum. Kuthiramalika, the mansion of horses built by Swati Tirunal Ramavarma, is a mixture of architectural brilliance, arcane beliefs and untold myths.

The palace was built in 1845, by 5000 Viswabrahmins, who were believed to be the descendants of Viswakarman, the Hindu deity of creative power and the architect and divine engineer of the Universe. They toiled for 4 years to complete this classic abode of craft to be only closed down for 150 years after the untimely demise of Swati Tirunal Ramavarma. The myth says that, the palace was built facing the south, under the royal order by the prince. According to the vastu principles, buildings facing south is still considered to be inauspicious in Kerala. This position of the palace entrance is in a way is being linked to the early demise of the prince. Whatever the myth states, the palace still radiates the aura of the majestic legacy that had sculpted the edifice.

The palace which spreads over acres of land is built in the model of ettukettu (eight halled with two central courtyards) with the ceilings of 16 rooms out of the 80 carved in 16 unique patterns. The entire palace is built in rosewood, teak and granite with the floorings done with the natural mixture of egg white, black charcoal of the coconut shell and slaked lime. The flawless shining and smoothness of the flooring and the floral motifs of the ceilings are hard to miss the moment you step inside the palace.

Right from the array of life-like joint piece Kathakali mannequins that welcome you, the palace takes you on tour unveiling numerous ancient and medieval artefacts which takes you down the lane to the forgotten era of bronze, ivory and copper. The chamber showcasing the thookuvilaku and kothuvilakku ornate by the tusks of the Indian elephants will definitely catch your breath. Another interesting craftship aboard is the frog drum, a variant of the Dong Son drums of the South East Asian Dong Son culture. (To read more about Dong Son drums visit https://www.thoughtco.com/dong-son-drums-bronze-age-169896 ) You could also marvel the chola bronze and ivory statues crafted with intrinsic details along with the tanjore paintings employing the Chinese reverse glass painting techniques.

The two royal thrones on display are Dantasimhasana , the throne made from 24 elephant tusks and the other with the Bohemian crystal where the later one has the “couch”, the Travancore emblem adorning the top of the throne. Since the royal family had a good trade relation in spices with the foreign countries, we could see the gifts and presents by them as well, which add upon the treasure of the palace.

The palace teaches us the unbeatable techniques used by the then painters and craftsmen who employed natural dye paintings (hibiscus, teak leaf buds etc) to enhance the interiors of the palace. The ceiling of the reading room cum library and the sampramanchakattil in the durbar hall where the prince used to conduct dance performances, which were adorned with these natural dyes are indeed an ace to look at. The shades and detailing remain untainted even after 174 years.

One fascinating facet that recurrently catches your attention as you walk through the solitary corridors of the palace are the 122 horses that are being carved into the wooden wall brackets that support the southern roof. The palace which is initially called as Puthenmalika is named as Kuthiramalika owing to this architectural wonder.

The legacy of the palace and the Padmanabhaswami temple, which is considered today as one of the richest temples in the world is amazingly entwined with each other.  From one of the famous grantha entitled, Ananthasayana Mahathmya, comments that the idol was consecrated by a Tulu Brahmin, Diwakara Muni. Another widely accepted version attributes the credit to Vilvamangalath Nambiar, a famous sanyasi. However in both the myths, the first nivedya given to the deity was an unripened mango in a coconut shell and this custom is still being continued in the temple. When the ruler, Marthanda Varma , known as the maker of Travancore, ascended the throne in 1729, he initiated the steps to renovate the temple.

The idol of Lord Vishnu that you see today, is always placed in the dark. Wonder why? Made of the highly complex amalgam of kadusarkarayogam the idol contains 12008 Salagrams brought from the Great Himalayas inside it. Since it is made of this complex amalgam, it is protected from direct sunlight and moisture as it would damage the idol. The idol is for ages being cleaned using the delicate peacock feathers which shows the subtle nature of the Anantasayanam idol. Marthanda Varma after the renovation proclaimed the famous Trippadi danam wherein he surrendered to Sree Padmanabhaswami as His own gaining the title, Sree Padmanabha Dasa.

The palace, Puthenmalika has several pathways connecting the Padmanabhaswami temple which facilitate ease of access to the darshan. The palace along with the temple built on numerous myths still holds copious secrets beneath their bosoms yet to be unravelled. The maze however goes on bringing in innumerable viswasis from around the world.