A ten minute drive from the heart of town, the Velia Palli and its neighbor, the Cheria Palli, show a marked Hindu influence: jutting beam-ends carved into the shapes of animals and men, gables fretted into dancing peacocks and arabesques, and a perimeter wall which is thick, high and studded like a Kerala temple with projecting stone oil- lamps. There are Interesting murals surrounding the altar of the Cheria Palli said to have been painted by a Portuguese artist.
Maharaja Swati Tirumal of Travancore was a great composer. Few know that he also composed Hindustan music in addition to his numerous Carnatic kritis and tillanas. The temples of Kerala are famous for their wood carvings. In painting, we have fine examples in the murals of Tiru nandikkara, Mattencheri and Trivandrum. There is one Kerala artist whose work is familiar to most Indians. He is Raja Ravi Varma whose oleographs of gods and goddesses are to found in every Hindu home. Art historians have however rightly dismissed him as a painter of no consequence.
Most of Kerala’s musicians also belong to it. There are a few thousand Gaud Saraswats in the state. They must have originally belonged to Goa and south Kanara.
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