Draft:Ramalinga Vilasam palace


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Ramalinga Vilasam palace is a palace in Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu India.

Ramalinga Vilasam palace is alternatively also known as Ramanathapuram palace or Ramanad palace was built by Raghunatha Kilavan / Kizhavan Sethupathy of Kingdom of Ramnad  in 17th century.

The palace holds certain religious and cultural events. Durbar hall museum of palace sports mural and paintings of political and cultural life of Tamil rulers and aristocrats from then contemporary Tamil Nadu.

History, structure and architecture
According to Howes, Rameswaram and Pogalur were ritually important to Sethupathy where as Kamudi and Ramnad had location and security significance to Sethupathis. (p.83)  In 1604 Pogalur (Bogalur?) was main seat of Sethupathis. They fortified Kamudi where as in Ramnad they built palace. Howes contemplates that Raghunatha Tirumalai Sethupathi (1645-1670) might have started palace construction. Since Raghunatha is credited with creation of Makhavai Uranai, a large water tank to the west of present palace and that usually, in historic times, from where soil is used for primary structure of the palace, at the same place building a water reservoir could make sense. (p.83)

Howes says, developing Ramnad in mid 17th century might have made sense to Sethupathis for it's relative proximity to Coromandel Coast (half-way from Kamudi to coast) being beneficial for trade revenues from pearls fisheries and European traders and also Ramnad was midway on pilgrimage route from Madurai to Rameswaram. (p.83,84)

This economic boost and changing relationship with Nayakas of Madurai helped Sethupathis in establishing their ritual sovereignty through building ceremonial palace, goddess temple, ceremonial street and roads and wall connecting to important ritual sites. (p.84)

Howes suggests Ramnad palace was built with sources indigenous to southern Tamilnadu like brick timber stone, having traditional stylistic and planning influenced by Nayaka's Madurai palace which was roughly built fifty years before the Ramanad palace. (p.89)

According to Jennifer Howes, the Ramalinga Vilasam has two floors and the roof terrace is called as 'the Kings seat' which faces the Rameshwaram island, and it's then purpose was to overlook entire town of Ramnad. (p.92)

Rajarajeshwari temple
The palace compound houses a temple, having a dome shaped roof, which is dedicated to goddess Rajarajeshwari. (p.84,85) The north facing square sanctum is covered by gold along with gold image of Goddess Rajarajeshwari. (p.84,85) According to Howes temple is likely to have been constructed quite earlier than the palace itself. (p.84,85)

Events and celebrations
The Navratri and Dusserah festivals are annually celebrated in the temple located in the palace premises. According to the legend,  Sethupathys proactive military help in securing kingdom of Thirumalai Nayak (1623-1659) of Madurai  during war with Kingdom of Mysore. In reward for military services by Sethupathy, their Nayak king along with other generous gifts also provided a golden idol of a goddess and entitlement of celebrating the Navratri and Dusserah festival. (p.84) The Navratri celebrations also include annual puppet show.

Durbar hall museum


According to Jennifer Howes, information in the paintings not only complement the palace building and the location but also help understand world view of south Indian kings before British colonial period. (p.89)

Most of the paintings in the Ramlinga Vilasam are from 18th century depicting mainly Vaishnvaite scriptural scenes, very common to other south Indian temples. Howes says, besides religious themes, this specific palace has paintings depicting historical battles and also then feudal culture of recreation and pleasure.

As per Howes following six groups of paintings are found in the four halls of Ramlinga Vilasam. (p.93)


 * 1) A / the battle scene
 * 2) The king in court (durbar)
 * 3) Shaiva iconography images
 * 4) Vaishnava narrative images
 * 5) Paintings on arches in the backroom and ground floor
 * 6) the King's bedroom paintings

Ground floor
According to Anna Dallapiccola one of the paintings in first room of the ground floor depicts Nataraja, on the left side of god Natraja, a poetess Karaikkal Ammaiyar with cymbals is drawn while on right side pictures of sages Bhringin, Vyaghrapada and Patanjali are depicted in anjali mudra.

Dating and renovation
According to Howes, though paintings in the palace have been restored intermittently by repainting, their phases of creation can be dated. While palace is likely to have been constructed around 1700s, the paintings are generally ascribed onwards to rule of Vijaya Raghunatha Sethupathi I (ruled 1713? to 1725).

Note List of Sethupathi rulers
For ready (easy) reference forked from the article Ramnad estate shall be trimmed after completion of the draft article writing.

Chieftains With the Madurai Nayaks

 * Udaiyan Sethupathi (a) Sadaikkan (1601–1623)
 * Koottan Sethupathi (1623–1635)
 * Dalavai Raghunatha Sethupathi (1635–1645)
 * Thirumalai Raghunatha Sethupathi (1646–1676)
 * Raja Suriya Sethupathi (1676)
 * Aathana Raghunatha Sethupathi (1677)

Independent kings of Ramnad Kingdom

 * Raghunatha Kilavan Sethupathi (1678–1710)
 * Muthu Vairavanatha Sethupathi I (1710–1712)
 * Vijaya Raghunatha Sethupathi (1713-1725)
 * Sundaresvara Raghunatha Sethupathi (1725)
 * Bavani Sangara Sethupathi (1725–1727)
 * Kumara Muthu Vijaya Raghunatha Sethupathi (1728–1735)
 * Sivakumara Muthu Vijaya Raghunatha Sethupathi (1735-1747)
 * Rakka Thevar Sethupathi (1748)
 * Sella Muthu Vijaya Raghunatha Sethupathi (1749–1762)
 * Muthuramalinga Vijaya Ragunatha Sethupathi I (1762-1772 1781-1795)

Ruler of princely state under British Raj

 * As king
 * Mangaleswari Nachiyar (1795–1803)


 * As Zamindars
 * Mangaleswari Nachiyar (1803–1807)
 * Annaswami Sethupathi (1807–1820)
 * Ramaswami Sethupathi (1820–1830)
 * Muthu Chella Thevar Sethupathi (1830–1846)
 * Parvatha Vardhani Ammal Nachchiyar (1846–1862)
 * Muthuramalinga Sethupathi II (1862–1873)
 * Court of Wards (1873–1889)
 * Bhaskara Sethupathy (1889–1903)
 * Dinakara Sethupathy
 * Raja Rajeswara Sethupathi (1903–1929)
 * Shanmugha Rajeswara Sethupathi (1929–1967)
 * Dasarathan Sethupathi (March 1967 - December 1967
 * Ramanatha Sethupathi (1967-1979)
 * Rajeswari Nachiyar (1979-2023)

Categories to be added
Category:Museums in Tamil Nadu, Category:Palaces in Tamil Nadu, Category:Tamil festivals, Category:Festivals in Tamil Nadu Category:Indian paintings

Commons Category:Ramalinga Valasam


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