English
Saint Thomas’s Church
Palai, Kerala, India
Religious Architecture
In line with the grandeur of its architecture, Saint Thomas’s Church of Palai is one of the oldest examples of a new typology of tropical churches developed under Portuguese influence in Kerala in the 17th century. It is characterised by a wide façade of five sections that articulates with two galleries that run along the whole of the lateral façades and which act as an elaborate system of protecting the nave from the sun and keeping it cool. A peculiar and characteristic element of this church is the tower over the chancel with a hip roof, known as a madubaha in Malayalam, the decoration of which shows clear affinities with Manueline with its geminated windows and twisted columns on the corners. The façade has an interesting, complex iconographic programme, with two dragons on the wings standing out. Allusive to the myth of Indra and the dragon Vitra, they appear here as protector entities, with the primordial water that regenerates the universe pouring from their mouths. The interior is composed of a simple nave and two- storey, coffered walls. The decoration on the triumphal arch that leads to the high altar is similar to that on the main portal. An ogee that runs along the whole length of the chancel rests on capitals and gives it a sense of architectural grace. Worthy of note is the retable of the high altar that, despite being 18th century, denotes an affinity with seventeenth-century Portuguese Mannerist models. With two storeys divided by columns that frame niches containing perfectly sculpted images, the whole acquires a dynamic with the crowning of the attic in large scrolls and angels in Baroque taste but with an accentuated decoration that is reminiscent of Indian sensibility. The existence of beautiful old wall paintings depicting biblical scenes behind the retable of the high altar leads us to believe that the chancel was initially only decorated with a large wall painting, as happens today in Syrian orthodox churches where the old iconoclastic tradition of forbidding the use of large images is still maintained. Behind the façade, the high choir is a wooden structure in the tradition of local joinery that is found in the temples of Kerala. Although much altered, the churchyard still has a big priest’s residence with a huge wooden veranda and a small room for musicians with a veranda closed with a wooden grating, identical to that to be found at Ramapuram and in other churches of Saint Thomas Christians. A granite cross crowning the entrance completes the architectural whole.