Vilayilveedu family makes the ritualistic Onavillu dedicated to the main deity at Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple

Vilayilveedu family makes Onavillu for Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram

Six-year-old Shivaparvathi is a picture of concentration as she nimbly fills in the colours on a figure sketched on a red-painted, flat piece of wood. In the company of her father, cousins, uncle, grandfather and his brothers, she is busy finishing work on the ritualistic Pallivillu, also known as the Onavillu.

A country boat-shaped flat piece of wood with hand-drawn miniature pictures, mainly of Lord Vishnu, Onavillu is dedicated to the reigning deity and other deities of the Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram on Thiruvonam day, which falls on September 15 this year.  

Sitting on the floor or on low stools, they work in silence in a space in front of their family temple adjacent to their ancestral home. Several wooden planks in different stages of the art work are arranged against a low wall to dry. Each natural colour has to dry before the next can be applied. Colours mixed in coconut shells are applied with brushes of different sizes. 

By tradition and an ancient royal decree, the right to make the ritualistic Onavillu rests with members of the Vilayilveedu family at Karamana in the heart of the city.

Led by RBK Achari, aka R Bin Kumar Achari, the senior-most member of the family, the four brothers — Binkumar, Sudarsan Achari, Umesh Achari and Sulabhan Achari — and their families pitch in to complete the work, which begins from procuring the right kind of wood, usually of kadambu (Bur) or mahogany, from Tamil Nadu. The wood is then cut into the required shape and dimension and planed to smoothen the wood.

Bin Kumar says the family fasts and offers prayers before beginning the work on the six kinds of Onavillu.

Bin explains: “In the olden days, charcoal, white sand, red sand, turmeric powder and the juice of leaves and flowers were used to colour the planks. Now, we use powders that are used for kalamezhuthu (the art form of drawing deities and ritualistic shapes on the ground). No chemicals or plastics are used.”