Chettinad

About the city

Karaikudi can lay claim to being the hub of the cluster of 75 villages that now survive from the original 96. They are broadly referred to as Chettinad (a delicious memory associated with, mostly and unfortunately, only chicken; a forgivable misconception this story seeks to dispel). Karaikudi is a hinterland junction that gives the first and false impression of being a typical quasi-town, its name forgotten even before a traveller can figure out the pronunciation from the blur of fleeting milestones. But wait, and linger. Dusty streets, unlined and unmarked, lead you through what were surely among the most immaculately tended garden paths this side of the sub-continent. Everywhere there is evidence of adversities overcome by grit, daring and imagination. Chettinad culture is without parallel. Wood is worked in massive doorways that showcase the most dexterous carvings. Gold and silver jewellery is sublime in form and generous in volume. Refined crafts give the arid region a stunning foil. Hospitality is legendary and appears to be automatically inherited. Native looms add splendid colour. Business acumen has left an unparalleled legacy of arts patronage and sustained philan'thropy. Grand mansions and beautiful temples rise like mirages, only they are very real. The cuisine is so ambrosial that its popularity has already made it the fourth compulsory victim in every joint which simultaneously serves Chinese-Mughlai-South Indian. Here is a heritage that is facing a decline, but continues to reflect the gumption typical to the community that lent its name to this land: the Chettiars. As early as the 11th and 12th centuries AD, the Chettiars followed the shipping routes of the Pandya Empire. Trade in salt, silks, teak, spices, timber and precious gemstones prospered. Enterprise and initiative made them the leading merchant capitalists of South India. Proximity to the rulers brought them land rights in and around Pudukottai and Sivaganga. They became the Nagarathars (town-dwellers, also meaning sophisticated, a nomenclature used interchangeably with Chettiar) and their grand homes came to be called the nattukottais (literally, land fortresses).