A visit to an Ancient Architecture - 27/05/2023

 These days when we look around us we usually witness a sight which usually has buildings of fancy designs and architecture. It's really very rare to see houses, especially independent houses as many areas are getting converted to apartment complexes.

 So, getting a sight of an individual house is really very rare and that too if it has to be an older one it is something impossible. Many of us either go for the new and developed architectural designs and demolish the old structure completely or else we renovate our houses. But, when we think of the age old adage which says, 'Old is Gold', it's true in almost all cases except a few. This adage stands good especially for the buildings and houses constructed these days.

The ancient building about which we are going to compare our modern architecture is the great palace named 'The Padmanabhapuram Palace' which is located at Kanyakumari near Thuckalay.

Entrance of the Padmanabhapuram Palace 

The Padmanabhapuram Palace is a great example for the ancient architecture which was in the Kingdom of Travancore (the present day Kerala and the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu). This palace even though present in Tamil Nadu is being maintained by the Government of Kerala.

So, to talk about my visit to this palace and it's beauty, it's actually a place where you need to pay for taking photographs and videos. There is a place where we have to leave our footwear and we are supposed to walk inside the palace barefooted. Since, it was May month at the time of my visit this place was quite hot and it was quite challenging to walk on the sand barefooted. To describe about the beauty of this palace it was purely a building which didn't undergo any change and is being preserved to witness an ancient architecture. The rooms of this palace are being beautifully ventilated enough for us to have good air-circulation inside the building, so there is no need for us to have ceiling fans and air-conditioners to keep us cool during the summers. The roof is made up of clay tiles which has a specialty of keeping the palace cool. There are very few furnitures in each room and these are usually made up of natural materials such as wood, stones or medicinal plants. Since there are very few furniture kept in each room there is more space for moving around freely. The stairs which are present in this palace is a classic example for the ancient architecture. The stairs in the staircase are really very distant from each step and we have to be really careful while climbing in it. The palace has many plants and are well maintained by the ones taking care of them.

Plants at the Padmanabhapuram Palace

But, nowadays when we see there are houses which have large rooms but are congested with furniture and things which we don't really need and there is not much of space for free movement. The roofs of the houses being built these days are either using the fancy ceiling or is being built using the cement and we need a ceiling fan to keep us cool and especially during the summers we need an air-conditioner. Then, it is also very rare to see people having a garden in their homes these days and we are either cutting down all the trees to increase the size of our house or else we cover all the ground area with cement and we don't even make an attempt to have potted plants at our houses.

It can be seen that our ancestors have lived in buildings which kept them close with the nature and all the things they got were directly from nature and was not man-made. So, we usually know the things which we get from the nature gives us more benefits and helps anything to sustain for a longer duration of time when compared to artificial or man-made things.

Thus, this palace not only stands as an example for an ancient architecture but also stands strong as an example for how our ancestors utilised the natural resources and lived a healthy and happy life.