Chettinad is a region of the Sivaganga district of southern

Nadu state,
Tamil
India. Karaikudi is known as the capital of Chettinad, which includes
Karaikudi and 74 other villages. Chettinad is the homeland of the Nattukottai Chettiars
(Nagarathar), a prosperous banking and business community, many of whose members
to South and Southeast Asia, particularly
migrated
Ceylon and Burma, in the 19th and early
20th centuries. The people of Chettinad speak Tamil. Today there is a Diaspora of
Chettinad people, who live in the USA, Singapore, Malaysia, among other places.
Chettinad is well known for its Chettinad cuisine, Mansions, and Temples.

Chettinad is rich in cultural heritage, art and architecture, and is well known for its
houses, embellished with marble and Burma teak, wide courtyards, spacious rooms,
and for its 18th century mansions. Local legend has it that their walls used to be
polished with a paste made out of eggwhites to give a smooth texture

Chettinad is known for its Culinary delicacies. Chettinad food now, is one of the
many reasons why people get to know Chettinad. Chettinad food is essentially
spicy, with a standard full meal consisting of cooked dhal, eggplant (brinjal)
curry, drumstick sambar, ghee for flavouring rice, and sweet meats like payasam and
paal paniyaram. "Kara kolambu" is a highly regarded south Indian sambar.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chettinad
A palatial house of
Chettinad
A Chettinad house
courtyard
Chettinad cuisine, usually eaten on a banana
leaf.
 Origins of the
Chettiars
Chettiars are basically members of Hindu religion belonging to Southern Districts of Indian
Sub- Continent. They originated from a place called Naganadu but later on moved to a place
known as Kaveri Poompattinam situated on the eastern coast of Tamil Nadu which was then
ruled by the Cholas. Chettiars are also known as the Nagarathars which means " People living
in
Towns." Chettiars are considered as the Pioneers of Modern Banking. They introduced a new
concept of " Double Entry Bookkeeping " commonly termed as " Pattru Varavu " in Tamil, known
to all of us as Debit & Credit respectively in English.

During the Chola reign Chettiars were asked to carry on the Ceremony of Coronation of
the Chola Kings. They were given lot of respect and privileges in the kingdom.

But this did not last longer as the Chettiars decided to leave this land and move on further
south to Pandia Kingdom. This was because one of the Chola Kings fell in love with one of the
Chettiar girl. But refused to marry her. Thus the Chettiar Ladies in the region, to protest this,
burned themselves alive. This got the Chettiars to move out of this Kingdom.

The Pandia Kings invited the Nagarathar Community to their Kingdom with honor and respect.
The Nagarathar Community accepted the invitation and settled in the Pandia Kingdom. But as there
existed no woman now in their community they decided to marry a Saiva Pillai woman from
Tirunelveli district for further growth of the community. But they put up a condition that they will
not have any alliance with the Saiva Pillai community in future.

They selected the place in the South-Eastern districts of this kingdom, presently in "
Sivagangai District " of TamilNadu and settled there, which later went on to be known as "
Chettinad. "
 Want to learn more about Chettinad houses and temples… ah... These houses
are a real piece of Workmanship and a feast to one’s eyes. Massive structures
to visit that cover an approximate.. land area of about 25,000 sq. feet.
Amazing to
hear that, right !
These houses in Chettinad happened to be built say about 100yrs
back and still many stand erect. Isn't that a astonishing fact?
In those days, you won't believe, the houses were made of Lime,
Sand and Egg Yoke. Now the most interesting fact is that, to build these
houses, the eggs were imported from Rangoon (Burma). Doesn't that sound
interesting to hear ? Also the wood used for construction i.e. Teak was also
all imported from
Burma.
Now coming to the import of these Teak wood, there is a fascinating
story of how they were imported from there. In those days the Roadway was
not so developed and from Burma to Chettinad is quite a long distance to
travel. So these wood logs were tied !!! on to the Merchant Ships coming to
India and made to float to their destination. On reaching the shore, Chettinad
being not far from the seashore, it was easy for them to transport these
lumbers to the respective
villages.
 Chettinad houses are signs of successful joint families that existed in olden
days. Each house in Chettinad is made of Mugappu, Valavu, Irandankatu,
Moonakatu & Thotham. Now as you walk through a Chettinad Vidu you will
first find Mugappu, the entrance to the house, I think we could call it the
Reception. Then comes
the Valavu, the living area of the house. In the Valavu generally there are four
Platforms that are called as Pattalai, each at four corners of the Valavu. These
Pattalai act as the living halls of each family. Along with the Pattallai, Valavu
is made up of numerous Irattai Vidu. These Irattai Vidu are rooms used by
because
each family
Irattaitoinkeep
Tamil
their
means
belongings
Two andand
Vidu
etc.
means
Irattai
House
vidu got
and its
as name
its name
so
suggests, it is made of two rooms connected by a single door. Then as you
walk through the Valavu using the Nadai (Corridor) you will reach
Irandankatu. Irandankatu is used for dining purpose and have store rooms in them for
storing all kitchenware. Further down if you walk you will find yourself in a typical
Chettinad kitchen. This region of the house is called asMoonakatu. All the cooking in
the house is done here. And walking a little more will lead you to the Garden known as
Thotham in Tamil. Thotham is essentially used for little bit of gardening, stabling the cow
up and then for bathing. Now i forgot to tell you earlier that each house in Chettinad in
the olden days had enough cows to supply milk for all their needs. And yes each house
in Chettinad also had, provision for parking their vehicles i.e. it could be a car, or a
horse chariot, etc. depending upon the status of the family.
 Now defining the Chettinad House sounds real easy but it is not so when
you happen to visit it. Have you ever thought of counting the number of
rooms in a house in Chettinad, or have you visited every part of a house in
Chettinad?

Apart from the ground floor the Chettinad houses also have a first floor to
add to its massive construction. These first floors are also made of rooms
meant for Storage of things, so from this you could imagine how much would
have our ancestors had to store. A big Chettinad house consist of atleast 60
to 70 rooms.
Isn't that an interesting fact to look at ?

Now I think that's a lot on Chettinad houses. But what’s being done to
conserve these houses, safe guard them? These houses now a days are slowly
vanishing due to lack of maintenance and something should be done to
preserve ancestral properties like these in existence for posterity. Or we will
have to consider ourselves lucky to have at least seen such massive houses
becausesoon,there may be none to show our kids anything apart from a few
CDs which may contain a glimpse of what our houses looked like….
The Chettinad houses are built on a rectangular, traversal
plot that stretches across two streets,with the front door
opening into the first street and the back into the second.
 A fine carving in one of these
buildings. A century ago artisans,
craftsmen, sculptors and wood-
carvers brought their creative skills
to bear on these buildings.
Looking in from the main threshold, your eye travels in a
straight line across a series of inner courtyards, each a
diminishing rectangle of light, leading out to the back
door.
Most of the Chettiyar’s house in Chettinad consists
of
thousands of windows, hundreds of wooden pillars.
 These pillars are coated with egg white stand tall in marvelously big
dinner hall called Kalyana Kottahai. These houses may also contain
raised platform known as ‘Thinnai’ used to protect from sun and rain.
 First comes an outer thinai – Large raised platforms on either side of the central
corridor, where the host would entertain male guests. The platforms lead off on one side
into store rooms and massive granaries and on the other, into the ( Kanakupillai ) or
Accountant’s room. This area also usually leads off to the men’s well.
From here, the huge elaborately carved teak front door, with image of
Lakshmi carved over the head and navaratna or nine precious gems
buried under the ( Vasapadi) threshold.
The door leads into the first open air courtyard, with pillared corridors running on each side
that lead into individual rooms, each meant for a married son, each with a triangular slot cut
into the wall for the evening lamp. Then comes the second counrtyard with large dining
spaces on either side. The third courtyard was for the women folk to rest and gossip, while
the
fourth, or nalankattai comprised the kitchens, leading out to the backyard with its women’s
well and grinding stones. The wealthier the merchants the larger the house, often
spreading out to a second floor.
 Chettinad Palace in Kanadukathan
The 110-year-old Chettinad Palace in Kanadikathan village is the
oldest surviving building of this style, built by Dr Annamali
Chettiyar, founder of the Indian Bank and the Annamalai University
in Chidambaram.
 Entrance of the Palace
The basic style of architecture is that of traditional Chettinad, while the
construction material, decor items and furnishings were mostly
imported, from east Asian countries where the Raja had spread his
sprawling business and also from Europe.
 Dining hall
Dining hall where at least 250 people can dine in the traditional style, that is,
by squatting on the floor. Two massive mirrors fitted to the walls are meant
to help those who are serving to find out who needs more helpings, without
actually walking up the length of the hall to the guest.

Marble from Italy, wall-to-wall mirrors from Belgium, crystals from Europe ......
The woodwork and stone work were inspired by what Dr Chettiyar had seen in
France and other European destinations.
 Entrance
The hall leads to the central courtyard used for weddings and religious ceremonies.
This is what a new married couple see when they leave the palace after they got
married
 Third courtyard
The third courtyard has numerous small rooms surrounding it, meant to
store crockery, food and other kitchen items, and there are also two
kitchens here. The servants' quarters are situated at the far end which is a
suitable distance from the residential area of the family and yet close to
the kitchen where the ladies of the house would need their services.
 door frames
with Goddess
Gajalakshmi
who symbolizes
wealth and a
Kumbam(brass pot)
with sprouting
leaves engraved
on them to
symbolize wealth.
………other examples of Chettinad houses…most could do with some
fresh coats of paint & better maintenance!!!
Images from the net &
Flickr… Trinity October
2009