POETRY KAHLIL GIBRAN: Kerala heritage homes

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Kamis, 23 April 2009

Kerala Architecture: A heritage home undergoes repairs

Before concrete structures came into vogue, the roofs of Kerala houses were made with wood. In Malayalam it is known as melkoora or melkoodu. The amount of calculations that go into making a melkoodu is amazing. And each wooden piece that forms a part of it has to be precisely made.

Assembling – that is exactly what it is – all the beams and crossbeams and rafters and support items is a critical phase in the construction of a house. If there is even a minor mistake in the calculations or the dimensions of the made parts, the assembling would fail.

The wood that is normally used is old anjili (jungle jack tree). It is a hardy wood capable of withstanding the vicissitudes of time and weather. (A clarification seems necessary here. Anjili, though belonging to the same family, is different from jack fruit tree.) Nevertheless, it is safer to check the structure for possible damages. The common problem is rain water seeping in through the tiles on to the wood pieces that support them.

Currently we are undertaking repairs to the top roof of our ancestral house, Thekkanattu Parayil at Olavipe, Kerala, India. This is the second such venture in my memory.

In large houses, such repairs are done in parts: one area is finished and then the work moves to the next area. There is always an urgency to ensure that the job is completed before the southwest monsoon arrives in June.

My bother Jacob has pointed out an interesting aspect of this round of repairs to the house. The wood used is from an anjili which is estimated to be 120 years old. This means that when the house construction started in 1890, the tree would have been a tiny sapling!

Trees are vital and it is sad to cut them down. But it is also important to maintain homes, heritage or otherwise. Thachusastram (the Kerala science relating to construction) permits felling of old trees for meaningful purposes. Anyway, we have dozens of anjilis at various stages of growth on our lands and we take good care of them.

I am reproducing below some photos of the house. The last one offers a sight that is rare because very few houses with wood melkoodu are built these days.

South portion of the house. It is the top roof here that is undergoing repairs.

Photo: JJ Tharakan.

The specific part of the roof where the tiles have been removed for repairs.

Photo: JJ Tharakan.

Same portion at night.

This beautiful photo is by Dr. Sanjay Parva.

The roof as it looks without tiles, exposing the

wooden superstructure. Photo: TP.

All photos: Copyright Reserved. Click to enlarge.

Kerala Architecture - Olavipe Heritage Home

Kerala Architecture: Nalukettu, ettukettu, pathinarukettu

Selasa, 03 Maret 2009

Kerala Architecture: Another Parayil heritage home

Ayanat Parayil ‘ettukettu’ at Thycattussarry, about 3kms from Olavipe, is one of the oldest and largest among the Parayil heritage homes. Because of the length of the building, inner compound walls and the trees around, no photographer has been able to capture it in one picture.

The portion known as ‘Meda’ is believed to have been in existence for over 250 years. Though Velliara was the ‘Tharavad’ (see A Kerala Tharavad.), Ayanat was also occupied at least by the middle of the 18th century. (See A unique prayer.) The ancestor who built the St. Antony’s Church at Thycattussarry, which was consecrated in 1791, stayed at Ayanat to supervise the construction.

The ground floor of the ‘Meda’ is granary. The first floor has a drawing room and bedrooms. This portion which is connected to the main house by a curved corridor is due for periodic repairs. The house is well maintained. It costs a fortune of course.

My cousin Paul (PH Paul Tharakan) and his wife stay there – just the two of them!

The photographs below (copyright reserved) were taken by my nephew Ebbey Tharakan. He is a remarkable chap. I must write about him someday.