THE very word Chettinad conjures up myriad different images from delectable cuisine to rich woodcarvings. This semi-dry area comprising of 75 villages in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu is home to the Nagarathars or the townsfolk. Chettinad represents the story of a conservative merchant community whose ancient traditions of a splendid past it still strives to sustain in a fast changing world and whose rare financial acumen has helped in resurrecting itself in a different business environment.

There were nine temples established by the Chettiars in a 600 square mile area between the principality of Pudukkottai in the north and that of Sivaganga in the south. Every Chettiar, wherever he is born, is a member of one or the other of the nine temples that had been established by his forefathers and to which his father belongs.

The Nagarathar community is in many ways unique. Traditionally the men followed a financial calling and business took them to many foreign lands. The women left behind to care for the homes and the family, sharpened their managerial skills while dealing with agricultural lands or property. Usually the brothers took turns to travel abroad in order that remaining members could spend ample time in the village with the family. The wealth that the men earned in their stint abroad was invested in their ancestral village in the form of palatial homes and lands in addition to being used for philanthropy.

 

Each family boasted of a mansion that, while second to none in conforming to the traditional norms of construction, yet created a structure that was unique and different from the next. Many of these houses drew upon an amalgamation of experiences, with the result that each became a masterpiece. Using everything from Italian marble to Burmese teak, the mansions were lavished with the best that money could buy even as the pool of traditional masons in the area ensured that these houses were built to perfection.

Most Chettiar mansions comprised of a public reception area abutting the street. An enclosed area or built-in courtyard immediately behind the reception area surrounded by corridors and small rooms leading off them served as the living area and for functions and rituals. The front corridor sometimes broadened to accommodate two bench like structures closer to the ground on either side of the doorway. The rear hall served as the women’s domain where the women of the community reared children, engaged in food preservation and went about other domestic activities.

 

Generally a long hall ran along the length of the house. This was used for dining; in some houses with larger families, there sometimes were even two dining rooms. A second courtyard generally comprised of a kitchen and cleansing area very much like the previous courtyard in broad concept. The living area with the personal rooms was replaced by storerooms and kitchens.

Among the many embellishments in these houses was the use of carved wooden pillars in the more ‘public’ areas, elaborate carving on doorframes and lintels, and the raising of decorative elements like masonry balustrades over the reception area. The addition of balustrades to embellish the façade above roof-level led to the building of a second storey across the width of the house, with facade-embellished towers or turrets at both ends. This first floor was usually a long, multipurpose hall with pillared verandahs on either side. With the increasing prosperity of the community, more decorative houses came up, all marked by greater use of the famed mirror-finish to walls and floors called Madras plaster or egg plaster.

 

Their ornateness at this stage was based on local skills like wood-carving, stone-sculpting and stucco-moulding. It was the richness of decoration that distinguished one house from another, for most of them were built to an almost identical plan by master craftsmen with the most rudimentary of homemade equipment. An amazing feature of these houses is the evenness or gentle slope achieved where needed – the great slopes of the roofs, the identical nature of decorative features repeated and, above all, the built-to-last quality of the homes which even today, 125 and more years later, do not leak, reveal cracks, or show any structural weaknesses and which do not need major repair. That all this was achieved by untutored master craftsmen, who learnt by watching and through experience, is the true wonder of these houses.

A delight to ethnomusicologists and a rich cultural treasure is the unfading and yet a dying trend of poetic lyrics of the wise old women of the community who effortlessly weave true stories and anecdotes into their poignant musical renditions. Be it the lamentations during the death of a loved one or the gentle moral-filled personal lullabies for children – the women of the community kept the family history alive and passed it on from one generation to the next through this oral tradition.

 

Weddings were a source of great enjoyment and revelry in Chettinad when many familes came together in the spirit of community. It was a gathering of friends and relatives from near and far. The exotic fragrance of jasmine, the swish of the kanchipuram silks and the wafting aromas of the splendid meals all made weddings an affair to remember! To most chettiars, a wedding rekindles a sense of belonging and fortunately the custom of returning to their ancestral village ensures that the tradition of communal festivity is kept alive.

The chettiars are a simple community who do not believe in showing off their wealth, although pomp and pageantry is slowly creeping in and exacerbating differences in an otherwise regimented community with an unwritten code. A frugal people who excelled in the art of food preservation, the summer months in Chettinad proved particularly difficult due to the dry and arid conditions of the area. Conservation became the byword of the community and they conserved everything that they came into contact with. Water, a precious commodity in this dry region was conserved adeptly as were the gifts that the daughters-in-law received at the time of their weddings. The storerooms of the palatial homes, with rows upon rows of neatly stacked utensils, containers, mattresses and preserved foodstuffs are an amazing sight. Everything in excess was to cater to the large number of friends and relatives who participated in the occasions at the house.

For many members of the community, as they grow older the pull of the roots gets stronger with every passing day and going back to Chettinad is going back home. However, an increasing number of the younger generation are migrating to foreign lands leaving the maintenance of the ancestral homes in the hands of the elders of the family leaving open the question whether these young chettiars will ever return or take steps to conserve their architectural heritage. Many homes have been lost due to the inability to maintain them, their rich heritage now lost forever.

 

The need is to spread awareness of the fragile state of this unique architectural and cultural area and take positive steps to conserve and maintain it for posterity. A few conscious members of the community have taken the cue and converted their homes into heritage resorts and home stays, thereby adding to the influx of tourists to the area. Chettinad today is a rediscovered region that is being featured as a prominent tourist destination on several foreign tourist itineraries of South India. Many a domestic and international leisure traveller has gone away enriched with memories of Chettinad and its stunning heritage.