The drive from Tiruchirappalli airport toward Chettinad region, about 75 kilometres away, reveals a rustic region. Deep into Tamil Nadu, the frugal, semi-arid countryside is dotted with acacia trees, small huts and tiny houses. But as one turns in from the highway near Karaikudi, into a street lined with massive houses laid in straight parallel lines, the architectural splendour is everything its surroundings are not—opulent, magnificent, huge, rich in design and detail.
These are the famous Chettinad mansions, in this case the Chidambara Vilas, a 120-year-old house of the Chettiar community converted into a heritage hotel.
It is one of the about 10,000 mansions built by the Chettiar community of the region in the early 20th century. Rich traders of pearls and gems and money lenders, the business community travelled far and wide across the world, building huge homes in their ancestral land that housed large families with as many as 70-80 members. Today, only about half of these houses still stand, with some converted into boutique hotels and homestays. And, of the mansions that still exist, most are abandoned, with their inhabitants having long shifted to bigger cities or migrated abroad.
But the few that remain functional are cultural magnets attracting tourists to a region that is also known for its finger-licking cuisine. In a cluster of about 90 villages, with each village having about 60 mansions, the houses are ethnic melting pots, showcasing influences not just from the region, but as far as south-east Asia and Europe. Each house is different from the other in its character, while remaining true to a common architectural plan of two-three front courtyards, an open, central courtyard surrounded by small rooms, and large halls situated in the backside. It is in the details that the owner’s life is reflected. It is said no house is identical to another, as the owners wanted to flaunt their travels and wealth with unique carvings, stuccos, and colour palettes in the houses they built.
Travels across south-east Asia brought influences such as Burma teak pillars, furniture from Bali, satinwood from Ceylon. European inspiration is manifested in chandeliers from Belgium’s Van Saint Lambert, Italian marble, French turrets and sculptures of soldiers guarding the mansions. If the heavy doors are richly carved with Indian symbols, the ceilings and floors reflect European character. The purpose of building these huge homes was two-fold—as status symbols, and to host big family events, including weddings.
Chennai-based architect Sujatha Shankar, who specialises in heritage and contextual design, shares that even if the mansions still standing remain empty or are converted into hotels, the owners make it a point to return for weddings, as the Chettiars prefer their weddings to take place in their ancestral homes. “In fact, the long dining halls and long corridors were designed keeping in mind large weddings and family events,” says Shankar. It is one way for the community to remain connected to their roots and heritage, she adds.
Historian and author Pradeep Chakravarthy, whose research explores temples, inscriptions, and cultural history of south India, explains why most mansions today lie in ruins. “The Chettiars were large families. While they lived together in the olden days, today their descendants are spread across the world. Subsequently, these mansions are co-owned by 40-50 families who most times don’t see eye to eye on either the sale or upkeep of the houses. And since most of them have moved on to bigger cities or abroad, the houses lie in ruins as a result.”
At one such house, VR Mansion in Kanadukathan, the sprawling structure lies in various stages of neglect. The owners have long left, but have given the house to an old couple to maintain. Broken and battered utensils, clothes strewn all over and a lack of general cleanliness reflects a sad state of affairs of what at one time would have been a magnificent home with richly carved doors and beautiful Athangudi-tiled floors, now covered with decades of grime.
Heritage as hospitality
In stark contrast just two doors away is The Lotus Palace. Originally built in the late 17th century, the house has been restored by the Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels into a boutique property with 15 rooms. The property retains every bit of the Chettiar influence and character—in its carved doors, wooden locks, frescoes, courtyards and the quintessential Raja Ravi Varma-inspired stained glass panels that are common to many houses in the region. General manager Kathiravan Karunanithi tells us that the house belonged to the Chidambaram Venkatachalam family, which also owns another mansion right opposite Lotus Palace. “We retained everything we could from the original house, and restored the rest in traditional Chettinad style, be it the Athangudi tiles or the Sahasradala Padma (1000 petal lotus), traditional kolam patterns that are a staple in Chettinad and Tamil Nadu homes.” The palace’s design follows a maximalist approach, amalgamating Chettinad character, Burmese influences and modern design elements. Local craftsmen and master temple painters were roped in for the restoration to replicate indigenous technique and construction methods.
For Priya Paul, chairperson, Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels, the property aims to “honour and preserve India’s diverse legacy, by turning historic spaces into living stories”. Park Hotels is the biggest hospitality group to have a property in the region so far. Other regional chains such as CGH Earth, which operates Visalam in Kanadukathan, and Tamil Nadu-based Sangam Hotels, which operates Chidambara Vilas, have also restored mansions as boutique hotels.
But the region is attracting more hospitality players, including India’s largest, Indian Hotels Company. An IHCL spokesperson confirmed to FE that the company is in the final stages of inking a deal for its boutique brand, Tree of Life, in the region by taking over a Chettiar mansion. “Restoration should be operational 8-10 months from signing of the agreements,” the spokesperson told FE. They also confirmed that the property is likely to open its doors by next year after the deal is executed and refurbishments done.
Monetising legacy
Some properties such as the 280-year-old AR House, a preserved heritage mansion in Kanadukathan, are converted into tourist sites, with entry tickets to view the interiors. Intricate frescoes mark the over 80 rooms, surrounded by granite pillars, intricately carved Burmese teak doors, Italian marble, traditional furniture and black and white photographs of the owner family. The accountants’ desks, safes for money, intricate study tables and other artefacts are placed as they were originally. For visitors, it is like stepping back into history, as if one is actually visiting a Chettiar host.
It is this rich cultural connect that enamoured French architects and designers Bernard Dragon and Michel Adment, who operate a boutique hotel, Saratha Vilas, in Kanadukathan. Taken in by the architecture of the region when they first visited in 2007, they returned repeatedly, finally taking up a mansion in 2010, constructed in 1905 by Tamil merchant Thiru SASS Subramanian. The restored mansion today is a tasteful balance of Chettiar aesthetic and modern chic. Having also initiated the Revive Chettinad Heritage Trust in collaboration with UNESCO, the duo are committed to protecting the architectural heritage of the region. While they return to Europe for a few months in summer, Adment says “this is home now”. When asked how they break even with just ten rooms for guests, Dragon replies: “This is not a business for us, but a project of passion,” also declining the idea of expanding their hospitality venture for the same reason. The duo share that occupancy in the winter months rises to over 80%, and post-Covid, there has been a significant rise in domestic tourists, as opposed to the largely foreign guests they received earlier.
For 93-year-old A Chandramouli, owner of Chettinadu Mansion in Kanadukathan, a Chettiar home partly converted into a heritage hotel, his home has become his sole source of income. Having converted most of his rooms for guests, he occupies just a ten-by-ten feet room, cluttered with his belongings. He narrates how he opened his house to visitors to make ends meet. “There is no other income source for us, so we converted some rooms into a hotel,” he says. The property is not renovated extensively, retaining its character of being a home first. He owns two more such properties in the neighbourhood, employing about 40 staff to maintain them. He operates heritage hotels in Kerala as well, plus a restaurant each in the Maldives and Seychelles. However, he says hospitality is not a good business. “It’s too much hard work, and there is no pleasing the guests. We are regularly faced with complaints, which are a challenge,” he rues.
As we step out of Chettinadu Mansion, we spot a truck passing by that is collecting any antiques the mansions are willing to give away. This is another income stream for the mansion owners, as the houses are full of collectibles from across the world. This has spawned an entire ‘antique market’ in Karaikudi, which is a long lane of shops full of artefacts collected from the mansions. From heavily carved doors, furniture, utensils, artefacts, paintings, household goods, one can find just about anything in these shops. Several tourists come to the region just to visit this antique market, and the stories the tiny shops unfold. Many come for the traditional Athangudi tiles, for which there are several factories in the area. The numerous textile weaving centres dotting the region are another crowd-puller, where you can buy and even watch sarees being woven in front of you.
Cuisine as crowd-puller
Chettinad is synonymous with Chettinad chicken, a dish that, interestingly, does not exist in traditional cuisine, much like its northern counterpart of butter chicken. But what the region does have is a wealth of flavours and aromas. Contrary to perception, the cuisine is light and low on chillies, but deep in complexity and flavour, with pepper as the main spice of heat. Local ingredients like raw banana, yam, vegetables, mango get transformed into various kinds of avial, kuzhambu and maandis. The rasams can range from fragrant coconut to a light coriander broth. What is not to be missed is the mangai pachadi, a raw mango, tamarind and jaggery preparation that is jammy, tangy, sweet and just delicious. The kola urundai kuzhambu, a dish made of steamed lentil dumplings in a spicy and tangy gravy, served on almost all family and religious occasions, is a revelatory discovery. A common dessert is Kavuni arisi payasam or kheer made of black rice that owes its origins to Burma. While the Chettiars were originally vegetarian, dried and fermented fish and meats were incorporated into the cuisine inspired by the Chettiars’ travels to south-east Asia. Even today, the traditional meals are predominantly vegetarian, with the meat and fish served as ‘extras’.
At The Bangala, the region’s first heritage hotel in Karaikudi, that attracts visitors mainly for its culinary power, founder Meenakshi Meyyappan says: “The culinary experience we offer our guests is authentic Chettinad cuisine, made as it was in our mother’s and grandmother’s time.” She explains that contrary to perception of Chettinad cuisine being rich, heavy, spicy and hot, “our cuisine is not meant to be so. Chettinad cuisine’s special flavours are because of spices used sparsely.” People travel to The Bangala mainly for the food, and the various cooking masterclasses the property hosts. Meals here are served in a long dining hall central to the property, with great attention to detail. Each meal is an explosion of varying flavours—comforting pachadis, deeply flavoured kuzhambus, crunchy poriyals, pepper-spiced chicken or mutton—relying mainly on local and seasonal produce. The Bangala’s cookbook—The Bangala Table: Flavor and Recipes from Chettinad—is a treasure trove of recipes from the region.
Senthil Kumar, general manager at Chidambara Vilas, shares that the complexity of the region’s cuisine stems from the rich array of ingredients brought home by the Chettiars from their travels the world over. The traders brought back foreign ingredients and asked their wives to integrate them into traditional cooking. Ingredients like nutmeg, galangal, cloves and blue ginger converged into Chettiar kitchens from Europe, Vietnam and Ceylon, lending the food aromatic and flavourful depths. Inspired by their travels, the Chettiars also built European-style dining halls, importing crockery and cutlery from as far as Japan and Europe.
Today, the cuisine is a crowd-puller, attracting visitors from far and wide, eager to sample the region’s culinary riches. Most hotels include meals in their packages and guests get treated to elaborate feasts on banana leaves. Sampling the flavours of Chettinad, one can’t help but agree with an old Tamil saying: “One is lucky to eat like a Chettiar”.
Bankers of the east
The Nattukottai Chettiars were prosperous merchants known for trading precious stones, pearls, rice and spices across southeast Asia, particularly Malaysia, Burma and Vietnam. The Hindu community also served as financiers to the kings and the British, with their credit network extending to Singapore and Malaysia for many centuries. They were thus known as ‘bankers of the east’. When they rose to the peak of their power in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the community build a network of 96 villages in the Chettinad region, of which only 73 remain today.
The community built over 10,000 lavish mansions in the villages, with some spanning about 65,000 square feet, where the large joint families resided. All houses have big strong wooden doors, some weighing as much as 400 kg, with several bolts on them to secure the wealth. The community was extremely cautious about their money, and built large safes to keep their cash, which were guarded by the male members.
However, post-independence, the Chettiars’ money-lending business dwindled, especially after expansion and nationalisation of banks. This accelerated their financial decline, already put in motion by global shocks of the Great Depression and World War II, which hit the community hard as most of their operations were overseas.
Festival circuit
Hospitality players in the region collaborate to organise and host several cultural festivals throughout the year to attract tourists, focusing on the region’s architecture and food. People can pay and attend the festivals, with packages covering everything from stay, food and transportation. Some of these festivals include:
Kalai —Chettinad art and architecture festival
Held in the early months of the year, this festival showcases the art and architecture of the region. Experiences include visits to various temples, mansions and sites of architectural interest. Lectures by experts, guided tours, culinary experiences, dance and music performances are included.
Suvai — A culinary exploration through Chettinad
Literally translating into ‘taste’, the festival held in July focuses on the region’s rich culinary traditions. Live demonstrations, cooking classes, tasting sessions, walks to explore local ingredients and culinary hotspots are included.
The Chettinad Heritage & Culture Festival
Usually held in September, this festival is a showcase of the region’s cultural heritage and traditions. From visits to handicraft centres, factories making the famous Athangudi tiles, handloom weaving centres, besides temples and cuisine, the festival explores it all.
