Poosimalai Kuppam Palace

This palace, located amidst the reserve forest, looks like a haunted place now. It is sad to find such a beautiful structure that gives heritage value to the town is left to ruin. Let me discuss this lesser-known place called Poosimalai Kuppam Palace in this article.

Thanks to Architect Shri. Mohan Hariharan from Arani. Without his help, I might have never seen this place. Most of the details provided in this article are based on what he explained.

At around 16 km from Arani, the historic town of Tiruvannamali district in the Tamil Nadu state of India, the place called Poosimalai Kuppam is located. The place is a reserved forest area. A very narrow road connects to this palace. This palace is in the middle, surrounded by hundreds of trees and a few hills.

Tirumalai Saheb of Arani Jagir constructed this palace in 1860 CE. He had reportedly built this palace to accommodate his Anglo-Indian wife. It is believed that he had planted all these trees around the palace, thus changing this area into a thick forest. We could only guess his intention as no available record divulges the details.

The palace was reportedly used by the Zamindar as a hunting place. He used to hunt deer and boar by shooting from this palace. It is said that the British had captured this palace later and looted and damaged it.

The building, which looks like a British-styled structure, is stunning. The surrounding paddy fields, forests, and hills make this site much more beautiful. Sadly neglected by the Government, this building which is in ruins, has three floors. The top floor has a tiled, sloping roof. The rainwater drain pipes found on the roof were imported from England.

The palace walls are built with high-quality bricks and plastered with lime mortar. They are of high-quality finish. They are painted with red oxide color and look fabulous in the bright sun. Some of the interior walls have floral designs.

Today, the miscreants have done more damage to the beautiful building than what was reportedly done by the British. All the walls are poorly scribbled. The doors are missing, and the windows look damaged. Still, the palace looks majestic.

Happy travelling.