YOU HAVE TO VISIT this palace!

"YOU HAVE TO VISIT this palace!", I kept telling my parents, ever since I visited Padmanabhapuram palace as part of a school trip.

Padmanabhapuram Palace

In Padmanabhapuram palace grounds with school friends

Around that time, more than two decades ago, this palace was featured in an Indian regional  movie, "His Highness, Abdullah". Walking through the same places as shown in the movie; viewing the buildings constructed in an architectural style so typical to Kerala; appreciating the exquisite artistry and ingenuity in construction; having a fun time with school friends - all this made a tour of the palace a delightful experience. I wished my parents could visit it too.

Parents relaxing on the steps of the palace

Couple of times when my parents tried to visit, it happened to be a holiday. The palace was not open for public viewing on Mondays and certain public holidays. By the time they visited, it had become a bigger tourist attraction, thanks to another popular movie "Manichithrathazhu" shot in numerous locations within the palace.






When I got married, I had one more person to pester with my dialog. My husband too had not visited this palace. It was only this year, during a quickly planned trip, that we were able to stop by. If you are interested to know about the rest of our trip, read A trip to the tip of India. Though it is worth visiting by itself, this palace is mostly a part of a tour itinerary to Kanyakumari, a town at the southern-most tip of India. On our way back from Kanyakumari, we stopped at Thuckalay for a tour of this historic site, which was home to the kings of old Travancore province. Other than the palace and its premises, that are maintained by Kerala State Government, the town and surrounding areas are now part of the state of Tamil Nadu.

A palace building showing typical Kerala architecture

After buying tickets and storing our shoes, as footwear is not allowed inside the palace, we went on the self-guided tour. The guides posted at various places throughout the palace grounds could explain the historic and architectural details in multiple languages: Malayalam, Tamil, English. The intricately carved wooden ceilings, bronze lamps and figurines at the entrance were a small preview of the splendor of this royal abode. In traditional Kerala architecture, the grandeur is not depicted through gaudiness but through earthy yet elegant designs.

Bronze lamp with figurine

 

Intricately carved ceilings

A carved wooden chair and a granite seat

Many rooms in the palace had wooden ceilings and windows that provided excellent cross-ventilation, keeping them cool, without any air-conditioning. The king's meeting room, known as "Durbar Hall", had windows, referred to as "kilivathil", with exquisite glass work. When I had visited long back, we were able to walk up to the main window that looked out into the front courtyard. Like many sections of the palace, this too was now roped off and kept out of bounds, in an attempt to preserve the aging buildings.

The meeting room with wooden ceilings and stained glass windows

Windows with beautiful woodwork

Throughout the palace, there were fine carvings in wood and stone. In the building which used to be the residence of the queen mother, referred to as "Thaikottaram", there was a room with an intricately carved pillar and ceiling. This was the room where many traditional rituals used to be conducted.

Top of a carved pillar

Another ceiling with carved flowers

The king's and queen's sleeping chambers were high up. I felt the high steep stairs in various sections of the palace, the tiny old-style toilet and the low doors and ceilings would have made the life of royalty in those days tougher than that of a middle-class family of these days.

King's and Queen's sleeping chambers and the tiny toilet

Compared to the buildings which housed the royalty, the adjacent guest house, Indra Vilasom, had larger rooms with  huge doors and high ceilings to accommodate the bigger built visitors from foreign lands.

The guest house with bigger rooms and taller ceilings

As we walked out of the guest house, there was a diversion to a small museum. Exhausted after two days of traveling, we decided to skip that, and walked to the kitchen, passing a huge pond.

The palace pond

The massive kitchen had lots of non-motorized equipments. The dining hall, which we saw in earlier section of the tour, was also huge.

Kitchen with huge stone mortar and pestle

Dining hall

Finally, we reached the famous dance hall, which is all the more famous now because of an interesting dance scene from the movie "Manichithrathazhu". The floor of this dance hall shone like a mirror and was referred to as "Kannadi Thara" (Mirror Floor). We walked around the hall and the adjacent temple of an Indian Goddess. Both the hall and the temple were carved out of stone and were very different from the rest of the palace, where wood was used more profoundly.

View of main palace building, stone-carved temple and watch tower

The dance hall

Near the ticket counter, there was another small museum with various historic artifacts and mural paintings.

Historic artifacts on display in the museum

As we stepped out of the museum, I felt happy to have taken another tour of this palace and to have spent some time imagining the life of another era - how it would have been to be born as royalty or a commoner in those days. The way the queens had to peek into the dance hall through tiny windows in the roof; the pedestal, where the king could stand and listen to the complaints from his subjects; the secret passage, leading to another palace, that was used to escape when threatened; the watch tower and windowless armory room used to safely store weapons; the huge dining hall where thousands could enjoy a meal together - all of this had fascinated me during that first visit in my school days. To me, the visit was a way to walk through and experience a part of history.

Viewing the dance floor through small windows

The platform used by king to view his subjects

If you have read this far, and enjoyed this post, let me tell you one last thing: "YOU HAVE TO VISIT this palace!" (if you haven't yet visited). I hope you like it as much as I do.

For more details about location and hours, see https://www.keralatourism.org/destination/padmanabhapuram-palace/244