This is the entrance plaza at Padmanabhapuram Palace, Thuckalay, Tamil Nadu.
Masonry walls and wooden upper storeys are the basic construction style. The overhanging eaves make the interiors comfortable in the sunny climate.
The public is allowed to wander, barefoot, throughout the many buildings in the palace complex.
Behind the palace the mountain looms over the countryside.
This palace was once the seat of power for the Travancore royal family. Though a shifted border now places the palace in Tamil Nadu state, Kerala still administers the palace and runs it as a museum. In Malayalam, the Palace’s name is പത്മനാഭപുരം കൊട്ടാരം (Padmanabhapuram Kottaaram).

The flagstones that pave the path at Padmanabhapuram Palace have a noticeable crown to them.

Profile of a brass hanging oil lamp, Padmanabhapuram Palace.
Again and again I thought that the antique lamps on display in museums had more pleasing profiles than the new lamps for sale in stores. The antique turned features were crisply defined, and the play of volumes and hollows was more pronounced and better balanced. I don’t know why the profiles changed over the years.
The Malayalam name for a hanging lamp is തൂക്കു വിളക്ക് (thookku vilakku).
I sketched a half profile and then flipped and stitched the image afterward to give an impression of the lamp’s appearance. I drew the lamp in sections. The top, with the loop for attaching the chain, is in another sketch.

Detail from a brass hanging lamp, Padmanabhapuram Palace.

Turned wooden bed leg with deep profile. The letters on the sketch identify the bands of colour painted on the turned features. Padmanabhapuram Palace.

The kitchen has a balcony with a drum pulley, so kitchen workers can draw water from the kulam, or pond. Padmanabhapuram Palace.

Stone mortars, or grinders, are set into an elevated part of the palace kitchen floor. Padmanabhapuram Palace.