Past glory gets a makeover

MADURAI: Every day, after the midday pooja, the bell towers between Srivilliputhur and Madurai used to chime one after the other within a gap of five minutes, and the king used to have his lunch only after the bell is heard from the last tower in Madurai, 75 km away.
Devoted as he was to the small town of Srivilliputhur in Virudhunagar district, king Thirumalai Nayakar restored a number of temples including the famous Andal temple.
Now, most of the bell towers are gone, and those remaining are facing ruins. But there is good news for the town which houses the little known palace of Thirumalai Nayakar. The Archaeological Survey of India recently restored the 17th century palace, throwing light on the reign of Thirumalai Nayakar (1623-1659) during which time the region flourished.
With high vaulted roofs and two huge halls, the palace, spread over an area of more than 15,000 sq ft, has many similarities with the already destroyed Thirumalai Naicker Mahal in Madurai. Although declared a protected monument in 1921, six local courts were functioning inside this edifice and to reclaim this heritage building the courts had to be vacated first.
Speaking to The Times of India, senior conservationist of ASI G Saravanan said the renovation was difficult, as it included removal of many accretion structures. "Removing the external structures was not easy. Many rare murals were disappeared due to white-washing. We have applied a fresh coat of lime mortar over the paintings to protect them after removing the white wash. Only traditional methods were used," he said, adding that "the renovation was done under the supervision of experts." The cleaning process also led to the stone flooring being exposed and they were also able to restore the base of the pillars that were concealed to a height of about 20 to 30 cms by accretions on the floor.
Sathyabama Badrinath, superintending archaeologist, ASI said her restoration team got ample proof that this palace was the residence of Thirumalai Nayakar when he came to worship at the Andal temple in Srivilliputhur. "There are many Nayak period paintings on the vaulted roof, which have been covered by whitewash as this palace had been converted into the local court by 1870," she said, adding that the roof also contains the insignia of Queen Victoria when she became Empress of India in 1887. Although Sathyabama is happy with the renovation process, she says the same treatment could have done to save greater monuments like the Thirumalai Naicker Mahal in Madurai where only a portion of the wall is existing now.