Hill Palace

but his sister's. The maharadja ruled in his mother's name, and the place where his mother lived, was the de facto capital of the kingdom.

   As they grew up and got married, the king's sons were no longer part of the royal family, but the daughters remained princesses, as they were an important part of providing the new king. The eldest son on the maternal side would be the first in line for the thones. The reasoning behind this being that at the birth of a child, the mother is unmistakable. The father could really be anyone.

   Halfway the 19th century, when the government was situated in Thrissur, the Maharadja's mother lived in Tripunithura. Bit by bit, the government moved there too, and in 1865 the royal family followed.

   The palace itself consists of 49 buildings, on a plot of around 22 hectares of land. In it, you can now find 3 museums, the Centre for Heritage Studies, a deerpark and in the gardens a wide variety of rare and endangered species of animals and plants. The largest part of these gardens is not accessible to the public, to give the flora and fauna a chance to develop in a natural way. And maybe just as well: Meeting venomous snakes and salamanders is a quite daunting perspective.

   As we'd suspected by its name, the main building of the palace is built on the top of a hill. When we got off of our Uber-taxi (Uber is really a wonderful thing here. You can choose your mode of transportation, you know the price of your ride beforehand, and -oh heaven- all cars have A/C!) we had a drink, and then climbed up to the palace. On our way up, we noticed that the Maharadja must have been a very rich man indeed. Terraces with flowers, dozens of fountains and artificial watersbodies, and on top of the long stairs an enormous white painted kolonial building.

   We later learned that the white palace wat actually the last of the buildings to be built. The first building, that originally housed the Maharadja and his family, was built in the typical Kerala style. A low square building consisting of 8 rooms around a central patio with a waterbasin. The royal family moved into the main bulding only when the whole complex was finished. The white palace now houses an exhibition on the royal family of te kingdom of Cochin.

    The palace itself is a magnificent building with many rooms, rimmed with wide roofed hallways. It takes little imagination to see the princesses of yore walking around there. The most speldid woodworks, handpainted tiles, elaborately decorated wooden ceilings. The masterpiece of the collection is the solid gold crown bestowed upon the maharadja Veera Kerala Varma in 1503 by the Portugese emperor Immanuel.

   In one corner of the palace, some acheological finds are presented. Unfortunately, apart from som engraved sttones, most pieces there are copies of finds excavated in other parts of India, mainly showing the rich Harapa culture.

    The palace itself, and the other buildings on the grounds, have withstood the sands of time more or less. They have been properly maintained. The gardens however, are withered. The ponds and fountains are dry and grown over with weeds and bushes. MOst of the stone railings surrounding the terraces are broken and worn, just like the steps leading from one terrace to the other. the soil is rockhard and dehydrated. Most blooming plants are in pots, and watered all day long. But the ruinous looks of the gardens do have a charm. The faded glory of anextinct dynasty. Creating an atmosphere that may even be better and more appropriate than if all had been kept in perfect shape.