THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Was Sundara Lakshmi Bai more witty than beautiful, or did she have an extraordinary flair for arts that drew Swathi Thirunal to her? No one knows. The Thanjavur Amma Veedu in West Fort is the only remnant of the times when a Maharajah fell in love with a dancer, irking the prominent people of the day.
On Sunday, Indian Institute of Architecture (IIA) Thiruvananathapuram Chapter took around 20 people to the place, not just to relive history but also to study the architecture. IIA will conduct many more heritage walks in the area, to make city residents aware of the built heritage of Thiruvananthapuram. The walks are organised as part of the golden jubilee celebrations of the Department of Architecture at College of Engineering Trivandrum (CET) which is the first architectural department in the state.
“Sundara Lakshmi Bai, her sister Sugandha Parvathi Bai and their brother had come from Thanjavur in the 1840s. After the king took Sundara as his consort, she had to be adopted by Vadasseri Amma Veedu. A special house was built for her. Originally called Vadasseri Padinjare Amma Veedu, it came to be known as Thanjavur Amma Veedu, after the dancer who came from Thanjavur,” shared Sharath, an architecture professor, with Masters in Conservation Architecture.
It was an ‘ettukettu.’ God forbid should all but one side of a ‘naalukettu’ or ‘ettukettu’ be burnt, one can still identify whether it belonged to the eastern, northern, western or southern side. “To do that, one just needs to take the measurement of the room. The dimensions will be different for each side,” said Ashalatha Thampuran, who retired as a professor of architecture from CET.
The walk also covered the original path of ‘arattu’ - through Mitranandapuram Trimurty Kshetram. Later during the reign of Gowri Parvathi Bai, the ‘arattu’ path was altered, so as to stop causing inconvenience to the very influential Thampi brothers.
Sharath said that the first printing press in Travancore, gifted to Eshwara Pillai Vicharippukar by Uthram Thirunal Marthanda Varma, existed not too far from the place. The group passed by Mitranandapuram pond, which in 2003 was filthy and had caused protests among the people.
“All ponds in the Fort area from Padmateertham to this one used to be linked,” said Sharath.
An arched gateway had Titanium Labour Sahakarana Sangham marked on it. Apparently the palace inside this was where Keralavarma Valiya Koil Thampuran wrote his masterpiece.
Most of the houses on either side of the Fort road has tiled roofs. “Not every house was allowed to have a tiled roof. However, in the 1850s, a fire burnt all the thatched houses,” said Sharath.
Later, the people here added arched gateways and converted the houses into double-storey buildings. The houses were dressed up to show who was the most influential.
Then there were lovely windows for the king’s consort to peep in at the ‘arattu’ secretly from one of the Ammaveedus. The window in the second building Thanjavur Amma Veedu looked like a palanquin, an ‘ambari mukhappu.’
“These are not properly maintained. The government must step in,” said Maya Gomez, an architect. “Perhaps there can be sound and light shows in these Ammaveedus,” suggested Asha G, a scientist.