THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : The Illustrated London News, on August 5, 1854, carried a vivid sketch of a stately stone bridge, well-made and ornate, with a royal convoy moving over it – chariot, elephants, camels, etc.
The setting of the sketch was in a tranquil landscape lined with tamarind and coconut trees and the wide expanse of the sky giving hints of the Western Ghats that embrace the terrain.
The caption read: ‘opening of a new bridge in Travancore’.
The bridge whose news crossed seas and went that far in the 19th century still remains as a proud testimony of Thiruvananthapuram’s heritage and engineering expertise that chiselled it out of stone.
As per Mathilakam records or administrative chronicles of yore, the stretch was lined with avenue trees and the view was picturesque as could be gathered from the illustration.
The bridge was a connection between the capital at Padmanabhapuram and Thiruvananthapuram, where administrative activities and trade facilities lay.
“It was one of the three main bridges, the other being the Neyyattinkara bridge and the Kuzhithura bridge, that linked Padmanabhapuram to Thiruvananthapuram. It was one of the traffic and trade routes,” says S Uma Maheshwari, a researcher on Travancore history.
It was in extensive use thus, and was part of the commutative traffic of the capital till 2011, when it was shut down for public use and new concrete one constructed parallelly.
The scene now is an apology of the days when the bridge opened to traffic in 1853 during the reign of Uthram Thirunal Marthanda Varma, younger brother of king-composer Swati Thirunal, whose royal procession is seen in the illustration.
There are no trees lining the roads towards the bridge, which is now not very conspicuous to the city crowd that rushes to and forth on the new concrete bridge.
As per references in History of Travancore by P Sankunni Menon, the foundation stone for the stone bridge at Karamana was laid by Swati Thirunal in 1843. There are also mentions in Mathilakam records of about `23,000 being set aside for the construction, and an additional amount for transport of stones from the quarries nearby.
The construction of the bridge was as per the plan and design of Lt Col William Henry Horsely, who was the first formally trained civil engineer to work in the state of Travancore. He had also led the setting up of the Trivandrum Observatory during Swati Thirunal’s reign. However, it could be inferred that Swati Thirunal did not live long enough to see the opening of the bridge, which was completed in 1853.
It is yet not clear whether the bridge now referred to as the ‘old Karamana bridge’ was built or was refurbished during Swati Thirunal’s rule.
As per an interview of a member of erstwhile Travancore royalty Aswathy Thirunal Gowri Lakshmi Bayi, the old Karamana bridge was built by Karthika Thirunal aka Dharmaraja (1758-1798), who had pawned a gold ornament because there was no money in the treasury for such a project.
“But sensing the need of the times to have such a facility for people to commute and trade, he gave orders for the bridge from the money obtained by pawning the ornament,” she says.
But it is not clear if the bridge, said to be built by Karthika Thirunal, is indeed the ‘old Karamana stone bridge’ or the one vaguely mentioned in Mathilakam records as an even older bridge situated behind the Sandhya Mandapam of the Shiva temple in the locality, says Uma. “When the construction of the stone bridge was planned, there are records of another bridge probably behind the Sandhya Mandapam.
Mentions of it are vague and hence its actual existence cannot be ascertained. The royal decree was to keep that bridge for traffic till the stone one came up. The stones of the old bridge were asked to be safely put aside for further use in other construction activities. There are mentions of surveyor Armstrong being involved in the processes concerning this,” says Uma.
From 1853, since it was opened, the stone bridge served well for over 150 years, and even got an upper coating of concrete somewhere in early 20th century to better sustain the onslaughts of time.
It was in use till about a decade ago when residents of the area raised fears of the strength of the structure smothered by vegetation. The newly constructed parallel bridge thus began to be used more.
Yet, though only used by light vehicles now, the old stone bridge remains as one of the many heritage bridges of pride across the Karamana.
There & Then
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