Naicker Mahal
Madurai – town all the time inspires a sense this is local and makes me reminisce the wonderful previous I belong to. It was once one of the vital unforgettable days of my lifestyles! I needed to take my father for an MRI Scan of the Spinal wire in Madurai. The scanning was once over a bit put up midday and I used to be requested to assemble the stories past due within the night. With a just right 3-Four fours closing, I considered spending the time by way of basking in Madurai’s superb previous. Tirumalai Naicker Mahal was once the very first thing that got here to my thoughts. I had visited there when I used to be my daughter’s age. A technology has handed since then! My father, me at the side of my spouse and my daughter had all determined to consult with Naicker Mahal.
Madurai is among the oldest continuously-inhabited towns in international and is authentically Indian. In contrast to different towns in India, the Mohammedan and colonial pasts have no longer defaced the vintage Indian lines. The road names are a minimum of two millennia outdated and town round Meenakshi temple nonetheless will make the fresh the town planners really feel inferior. A fourth century literature is going like this… “On this wealthy, historical the town with tall mansions, the place the vast and lengthy streets looked like rivers”. I nonetheless surprise how historical this town is?
Madurai – An Historical Town
Within the town of Meenakshi, the following very best monument after her temple that celebrates its superb previous is Tirumalai Naicker Mahal. Constructed by way of the benevolent & courageous king of Madurai Naicker dynasty, Tirumalai Naicker, the Indo Saracenic Dravidian Architectural masterpiece is truly a cynosure to the attention. Believed to be designed by way of an Italian architect and this, to me, seems like a fusion of all very best to be had architectural sorts at that time limit. When any person has extra fats across the abdominal, other people round Madurai would say that it seems like pillars of Thirumalai Naicker Mahal. The well-rounded Gothic-style tall pillars might be discovered in every single place on this palace and there are 248 in quantity as of now. The pillars are greater than 50 toes tall, with clean and shiny floor constructed the usage of Chettinad plaster shell lime blended with egg white.
It’s not that i am positive if the palace was once painted with the similar colour all over its hiya days. However the easy colours which shall we see now are relatively other from both the multi-colored or gray tone South Indian architectures. The stucco paintings enriches the wonderful thing about this palace and appears very a lot Indian. There are mural portray as effectively. With the little modern-day lights the palace would glance celestial and we might have noticed this in lots of India motion pictures.
The palace at first stated to be built in 20 acres, was once estimated to have began at round 1629 AD and finished in 1636 AD. No matter we have been seeing now isn’t even one fourth of its unique measurement. Chockanathana Naicker, the younger king and the Grandson of Thirumalai Naicker dismantled many portions of the palace to construct a palace in Trichy which, tragically, by no means took place.
Palace in Madurai
The palace was once divided into two main portions – Swarga Vilasam (Celestial Pavilion) and Ranga Vilasam. The royal place of dwelling, theatre, shrine, flats, armoury, palanquin position, royal bandstand, quarters, pond and lawn have been positioned in those two parts. The courtyard and the dancing corridor (Natakasala) are the primary centres of sights. The Celestial Pavilion (Swarga Vilasam) was once used because the throne-room and has an arcaded octagon lined by way of a dome 60–70 toes prime. The Throne Room results in the Dance Corridor, which now homes a show of artefacts. It was once from the Natakasala that the king used to observe at the side of his spouses dances carried out by way of gorgeous damsels within the evenings. The dances have been carried out to the accompaniment of a number of musical tools bathed within the mild supplied by way of burning torches. Two stairways to the higher storey are at the western aspect of the Dance Corridor. There was a lawn of repose at the northern aspect known as Rengavisala. Kings used to wish Rajarajeswari and therefore the northeastern aspect used to have a temple devoted to Goddess Rajarajeswari.
I’ve all the time liked the glories of Madurai Nayaks – their upward thrust and fall. Popping out of the palace, I used to be pondering whilst sipping at the ‘Jil Jil’ Jigardanda, that each nice kingdom has had identical destiny however no matter they’ve completed, reside within the type of majestic ruins that trumpet their historical past as an inspiration to many one day… and with out an iota of doubt, Thirumalai Naicker Mahal is one such landmark, each in area and time!
I accumulated the clinical record of my father which showed the he had most cancers. He’s not more and I do know each great point could have an finish. My grandfather had me informed tales about Mahal. My father all the time will get excited once we speak about Mahal. I’ve love for it. My daughter accompanied me on this consult with. Hope this legacy will proceed for generations… and in the future, I’m hoping we’ll all be speaking about this Mahal as a introduction forward of its time… and a introduction past time!!