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Architecture
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Ancient Kerala
architecture has a very distinctive style. Though much of it's
secrets have passed into history, the buildings still stand as
testaments to the skill of the ancient builders. The
low houses with their peaked, tiled roofs and wooden floors are
often seen even through the jungles of steel and concrete.
Many
old houses in Kerala invariably consists of 4 rooms joined together in
a rectangle form, facing the cardinal points of the compass with a yard in the
center inside. These structures are called Nalukettu ('four buildings').
This style of construction was primarily for convenience, as the joint family
system was prevalent then, and each individual family could live in one apartment
of the house. Needless to say, it was a very large, spread-out
house ! The Nalukettu was constructed in the center of
a compound with no more than one storey.
The process of
selecting a site and building a good house is based on astrology
and complex calculations. There are a number of beliefs
regarding the selection of a proper site:
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A
house constructed on ground sloping to the East will bring
prosperity, while poverty will ensue if it is constructed on
ground sloping westward.
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If the ground slopes towards the
southeast and the house is situated north - west there will be
loss of wealth.
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An edifice on ground sloping to the
south will cause early death of its inhabitants - while in
reverse construction quarrelsomeness will result.
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A house built on the north - east side
of a slope will be productive of everything in abundance.
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A house built on the
left and behind a Vishnu temple, on the right of a Shiva or
Buddha temple or by the side of a Shasta temple, will cause
calamity to the occupants. But if built on the opposite side,
it will bring prosperity.
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Houses should not be
built near temples, open paddy fields, hermitages, lakes, the
sea, hills or cow sheds.
If constructed near the
temple it should be lower in height than the religious
edifice.
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The entrance to the estate is a
good way from the house and consists of a door in the
center and a strong gate. The gate is simple and the surrounding
walls are exceptionally neat and tidy. In the compound a cattle
shed, an excavated bathing tank, an outhouse for Brahmin
visitors and a small edifice for the family deity will be seen.
The
structure is divided into four main rooms and four counter rooms
and the courtyard being connected to the outside by four
corridors arranged in 'swastika' form. The building always faces the rising sun.
The western portion of the house
is the granary. The northern portion consists of the storeroom
and the kitchen is at the western and eastern extremities, with
the dining room in the middle. The western and eastern portions
are kept as open halls for gatherings on important occasions.
The basement and foundation were built
of laterite and the walls were generally of laterite, brick or
mud. The roofs of these houses were thatched or tiled.
As
there is an abundant supply of timber in Kerala, wood played a
very conspicuous part. The other parts (such as columns, eaves,
the gables, the overhanging roof and the balconies) were built
of timber. The
woodwork of the building is solid and substantial and in many
cases it is beautifully carved.
The houses of
the less privileged consist generally of only one or two small, dark and
ill-ventilated rooms with a kitchen at one end and veranda either in front or on
all sides.
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