TALES FROM THE CAPITAL CITY – 163

 The Man Who Painted the Royal Corridor

Last week, the renowned Indian classical musician Prince Rama Varma shared a four-episode series of short videos featuring the paintings adorning the walls of the corridor connecting the Valiyakottaram—the sprawling palace complex in the historic Fort area of Thiruvananthapuram—with the Padmanabha Swamy Temple. This corridor, which begins on the western side of the famous Kuthiramalika constructed by Rajah Swathi Tirunal Rama Varma, served as a private passage for members of the royal family to access the temple with ease.

The passage leading to Padmanabha Swamy temple. Image courtesy: Uma S. Maheswari.

In these videos, Rama Varma focuses on the artworks—scenes from the Mahabharata and the Bhagavata—which cover the entire wall and are compartmentalised into several panels with painted borders. The videos proved to be a treat for viewers, as the passage is usually off-limits to ordinary worshippers at the temple. However, unknown to many is the fact that these paintings (which have undergone retouching several times) were originally executed by O. Velayudhan Achari, alias O.V. Achari, a fine artist and sculptor of yesteryears.

O.V. Achari (1890–1979) was born into a family that claimed a deep bond with the Padmanabha Swamy Temple. His ancestors hailed from Tirunelveli, where they were members of a craft guild associated with the famous Nellaiappar Siva Temple. They settled in Thiruvananthapuram following an invitation from Rajah Anizham Tirunal Martanda Varma for the reconstruction of the Padmanabha Swamy Temple in the 18th century. The family was granted land known as “Pazhamchottu Vilakam,” part of the virutti lands bestowed upon families who rendered valuable service to the temple or the royals.

O. Velayudhan Achari.

By the early twentieth century, the descendants of these Tirunelveli craftsmen had made a mark in Travancore. Among them were carpenters, ivory craftsmen, occultists, and painters. O.V. Achari began his career as an ivory carver at the School of Industrial Arts (Fine Arts College) and later served as a Fine Arts expert in schools. He excelled as a sculptor and was the founder of the Travancore Ivory Carvers’ Cooperative Alliance. Among his contemporaries and friends were renowned artists such as K.R. Ravi Varma and Rama Varma, nephew and son of Raja Ravi Varma. It was on the instructions of K.R. Ravi Varma that Achari crafted a bust of Raja Ravi Varma, which still occupies a place of importance in the Sri Chitra Art Gallery.

Raja Ravi Varma's bust at Sri Chitra Art Gallery.

Achari’s wife hailed from Vaniyanmoola, from a family that held the right to offer the painted Onavillu (Pallivillu) to the Padmanabha Swamy Temple. Members of the Vaniyanmoola family still recall with gratitude that the master artist undertook the task of painting the Onavillu and remodelled the figures into the forms seen today.

O.V. Achari is also credited with modelling the exemplar for the idol of Sastha at the Sabarimala Temple. He created a clay figure that later served as the model for the panchaloha casting by Chengannur Neelakanta Panicker. The clay figure made by Achari was based on a photograph of an idol of Lord Sastha worshipped at the palace. The photograph had been taken by Uthradom Tirunal Martanda Varma, then Elayaraja, on the instructions of his mother, Sethu Parvathy Bayi.

An old photograph of the Sastha idol worshipped in the palace.

For a long time, the moulds made by O.V. Achari was housed in the Travancore Ivory Carvers’ Cooperative Alliance Limited building at Pazhavangady. Later, during the reconstruction of the building, this mould—along with numerous others made by craftsmen of the older generation—was used to fill the foundation. Thus, a remarkable piece of history still rests beneath the building.

Sharat Sunder Rajeev.