INTRODUCTION

THE LEGENDARY ACUMEN AND WEALTH OF CHETTINAD PEOPLE,

 A POWERFUL MERCHANT COMMUNITY OF SOUTH INDIA,

SPANNED A VERY ORNATE, DETAILED AND DISTINCT

ARCHITECTURAL STYLE, PRESERVED AND EMULATED

UNTIL VERY RECENTLY  LIKE MOST CULTURES

THIS TOO IS IN THE DANGER OF BECOMING NON-EXISTENT.

CHETTINAD HISTORY

Chettinad, the land of tamils lies in the south of Tamilnadu, and was once part of the ancient Pandiya Kingdom. They occupied 96 villages known as the "Nagarathars" (the sophisticated) or the " Nattukottai" (land fort) Chettiars. They were a conservative community of traders and financiers with traditions centuries old who made immense contributions to the development of many Asian countries. They reached the pinnacle of their glory in the mid 18th  century and retained this till the end of the Second World War. Now what stands apart are the fabled Chettinad hospitality, the renowned Chettinad cuisine and huge mansions - of course most of them in danger of  going extinct.

CHETTINAD  TODAY  

   

These 96 Chettinad Villages today have shrunk to 75 in number and many had to sink new roots in parts far from Chettinad. Year-long empty houses come back to life only when their owners visit them to perform rituals dating back centuries.  This may well be the only reminder of an age when they lived in fort like mansions, created townships in the middle of nowhere, helped the growth of many neighbouring countries and contributed substantially to the preservation of the symbol of faith and culture in the land of the tamils. Life in these villages today is a portrayal of faded glory.

It is without doubt that their ancestors have left  a magnificent legacy, in the form of the fabulous Houses of Chettinad, which are truly unique and not found anywhere else in the world. However they are rapidly crumbling and urgently need to be preserved.. As Chettiar populations grew, they moved to other villages where they built new homes about which nothing is known today. What is intriguing is that no Chettiar lives in those old villages today. Why they migrated is not known, but all the Chettiars in family groups moved to their present villages about 200 years ago.


CHETTINAD PALACE & ENVIRONS

The Chettinad palace in Kanadukathan is one of the  few mansions which have managed to restore some pride to the Chettinad architectural heritage. The    Palace is maintained very well and is  permitted for limited public  viewing with prior permission. It is to be noted that this is the house of the Raja of Chettinad, the current heir is Dr. M.A.M. Ramasamy, who resides in Chennai and is the Chairman of Chettinad Cements. It is also to be noted that there are much bigger, authentic and older mansions in the region.

It was in the 1860s and 1870s that the first of the great houses of the Chettiars were built, . Their ornateness was based on local skills like wood-carving, stone-sculpting and stucco-moulding. It was the richness of this decoration that distinguished one house from another, for most of them were built to an almost identical plan (alongside) by master craftsmen .   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, doesn’t leak or reveal any cracks.

HERITAGE HOUSES

There was a time when all the 75 villages now in existence had many authentic heritage houses but now only one or two stand tall in the smaller  villages. In    the mid-sized villages  they are a more recognisable  architectural land mark

They were built with monies earned by them overseas with ornate and lavish décor.

CHETTINAD HERITAGE IN DANGER

while bits and pieces of this great heritage have stood the test of time,progress- has its consequences too. The people still see their roots in Chettinad and at the same time move away from their ancient traditions,customs and the legendary way of conserving wealth. Homes, lifestyle, traditional foods, handicrafts, artifacts and embellishments are all vanishing. n the next few years still more of these will be lost.

The growth in the villages through new generations have made them busy commercial centers which has led to architectural intermingling in which the houses have lost their distinctiveness. Upon entering one of them you will see the lost glory of Chettinad's grandest era. The sense of isolation still tragically persists compounded by a sense of desolation. Nearly a third of these mansions are the victims of wreckers and dismantlers with more of the rest barely maintained, scarcely lived in and occasionally occupied. 

Tons of these materials leave Chettinad in containers each day to destinations far and wide. Streets are beginning to lose their traditional look. modern buildings are emerging in- between . 

TOWARDS UNESCO NOMINATION.........

India may be gifted with tens of thousands of heritage properties, but it accounts for only 28 of the 962 sites on the UNESCO's world heritage sites list. India currently has 32 properties on its tentative list, first prepared in 1998. Out of the 4 heritage properties proposed to be added to the list from Tamil Nadu, Chettinad is one of them says Steve Borgia,who has championed the cause for the past decade.He is almost certain to see it through in the next five years.A french consevation architect made the presentation to the Advisory Committee on World Hritage Matters.