When I recently visited the Araikal Palace in KannurCalicut , Kerala, What fascinated me more than the rich history that the place holds and a cameo appearance in a recent local flick is the rich colours that the place had to offer, The white palace with rich sky blue lining and its colourful windows drew me to my camera like a fly to the lamp. I would have be so wrong if i said that that's all the place had to offer, but besides the colourful palace and its colourful windows were the colourful exhibition of paintings. A set of works by several local artists on the palace and its rich heritage, A fest of colours both intense and soothing. It was a colourful experience in all. A day of colour in the colourful city of kannur calicut!
For those of you who have no idea what 'Araikal' family means and holds in the history of India, A bit of an extract from Wikipedia ( I am no good in history, I flunked in more than once!). There you go a small but significant slice of India's colonial history.
Arakkal kingdom (Kingdom of Cannanore, Sultanate of Lakshadweep and Cannanore) was a former city-state on the Malabar Coast, ruled by dynasty of the same name. The ruling King was called Ali Raja and the ruling queen was called Arakkal Beevi.[1] The king's palace, which he purchased from the Dutch in 1663, was named Arakkal Palace after the ruling dynasty.
In the 17th century, one of the Padanairs (generals) of Kolathiri, Arayankulangara Nair, converted to Islam and adopted the name Muhammad Ali.[5] His wife was the daughter of Kolathiri, and they later came to be known as Arakkal.[5] Muhammad Ali continued in the service of the Kolathiris even after his conversion, and his successors known as the Mammali Kidavus were the hereditary Padanairs of the Kolathiri.[5] Around this time, many Muslim merchant families became financially influential in the Malabar region. When the Arakkal family took control of Laccadives, they achieved near-royal status.
For more info visit: Arakkal kingdom
( all photos are taken by me and distributed under the creative commons licence : feel free to share, modify, use , distribute and whatever you fancy(make some money off it, please be my guest) and if its okay with you add m name to the credits otherwise forget it)
da arakkal palace calicutil alla kannura...
ReplyDeleteNice post
ReplyDelete- Shanoj
I had never heard of this Palace. Lovely pictures. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteGood post, I have a friend who is a Syrian christian but has Arakkal as last name. I guess history is two complex to be interpreted in one way.
ReplyDeleteSo much to see in our country,thanx for bringing these pretty pics to my home.
ReplyDeleteNice post :) I love kerala and have been to Kannur but missed to catch this palace.
ReplyDeleteThere is a place called Aadrapalli(Not sure of the spelling) near Kannur..Just love unwinding in the beaches there. No tourism, just nature!
Wow! Nice windows, no wonder you got attracted to them.
ReplyDeleteLove the harvest painting and the Theyyam one too. D'ya have pictures of the building? And does this place still have the furniture that the royal family used?
@ D.
ReplyDeleteYes! they do have the furniture and some other stuff preserved there.
Now that you mentioned it in the hurry of taking photos of the interior I actually forgot to take the picture of the building! Damn!
But let me see if I can find any picture online, I would definitely mail it to you!
Best wishes Wind.