Old majestic mansions stand as mute spectators to the happenings over the decades. Well-designed structures with beautifully laid out interiors are locked. Some are lucky to have a caretaker, who lives around the house. Each home stretches for miles, sometimes filling up the entire street.
Walking around one can see facades with deities on their walls while an
occasional statue of queen Victoria stands among the shrubs........
I am sure many of the readers may
have never heard of Chettinad, leave alone the affluent Chettiyars from Chettinad. Today there are not
many Chettiyars in Chettinad, but their homes, 30,000 of them spread over
nearly 74 villages stand as a cultural and architectural reminder of a gone by
era. While most of them are locked, with only a caretaker to enjoy the
splendor, a few palace-like mansions, like Saratha Vilas, have been
meticulously restored and opened to tourists from India and abroad. These have become tourist attractions, some even call them the ghost mansions.
Kothamangalam is an obscure
Tamilnadu village. Here sits a century-old palace with a giant terracotta horse
carved by village potters, stands next to the bed as if guarding the guests. A
heaving push on the ornate door, carved in teak, leads to the expansive hall.
Within the 35,000 square feet of space the mansion occupies, pillars from
Burmese teak, mirror and chandeliers from Belgian glass, tiles from Japan and
Holland and marble floors from Italy. The architecture and construction reminds one of the skillful and talented local workers who have created such intricate, huge and beautiful homes.
Kothamangalam is one of the 75
villages of Chettinad, a region in Tamilnadu which was once home to the
affluent Chettiyar community, primarily the Nagarathar, who are elite bankers
and merchants. Sometime in the nineteenth century, most members of the
community, which had maritime trade relations with South East Asia, migrated
overseas to Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Sri Lanka, leaving behind this vast and beautiful structures.
The ancestral property of one of
the prominent Chettiyar, Subramanian Chettiyar, who migrated to Malaysia many
years ago; Saratha Vilas has been restored and converted into a boutique hotel
by French architects Bernard Dragon and Michel Adment who, on their second trip
to India in 2003, travelled around Tamilnadu and Pondicherry, and were lured by
the majestic mansions of Chettinad and decided to stay here.
Today, Chettinad is in the
process of being classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, government of
Tamilnadu asked the architects to present Chettinad for inclusion into the
World Heritage Tentative List for India.
Chettinad has been included in
the Watch List of Most Endangered Sites of the World Monuments Fund, by a New
York organization and a campaign to Revive Chettinad Heritage was launched in
2012, in partnership with UNESCO and supported by the Tamilnadu government.
Each home stretches for miles,
sometimes filling up the entire street. Walking around one can see facades with
deities on their walls while an occasional statue of queen Victoria stands
amongst the shrubs. Most of these homes have been rented for Bollywood film
shoots, like Virasat and Kollywood films like Aishwarya Rai starred
Kandukondein were shot here. Atleast through films, people get to see these literal wonders.
A walk around the village reveals
Chettinad as a colourful mosaic of arts, crafts, jewellery, culture,
architecture and food. A drive through the villages takes around two hours,
which connects you to old temples, markets, handicraft centres, local tile
manufacturing units, lush green fields and brimming reservoirs.
Besides, the community and clan
temples, each village has a local Ayyanan temple, the guardian that watch over
these huge empty homes. The shrines are surrounded by symbolic offerings of
terracotta horses and elephants, carved by the local porters. They remind you
of a bustling civilization that once existed here. Today almost it looks like a ghost town. The new generation of the migrant families living abroad are either not aware or not interested in these structures in their native land, which they left decades ago.
Karaikudi is the main town in
Chettinad and is connected by rail and road. It’s about 100 km from Madurai, 90
km from Tiruchirapally and 400 km from Chennai. All the three cities are
connected by trains. You can also fly into Chennai and take a train or bus to
Karaikudi. Once here, the sights will take you to a gone by era and a
civilization that once thrived here. Presently only tourists and people who have heard or read about the place, the structures, the architecture and intricate carvings come here to appreciate these forgotten structures.
Also read: Taste of South India
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Food for thought!
Recently while
conversing with a couple of senior citizens, I was a bit perturbed to hear
the stories behind their smiles. Amongst all of them, one thing was common.
Their children were well-educated and are settled or working abroad.
They confided – ‘Our
life is one of happiness and more of sadness. We live here and the children
provide for us the material comforts. But that is not life. We miss our
children- sons and daughters, the grand children, the hustle and bustle, the
playful noise at home, the fights, the arguments, discussions, eating and going
out together. Now it is silence or the sound of TV; and it is just reduced to
their visits once in two to three years when they come on a short holiday. We
get energized and feel the true happiness.
Otherwise it is me
and my wife giving company to each other. Waking up in the morning, going
through our regular routine, talking to each other and silently remembering the
good old days when we worked hard and the children were growing up.’
And one of them made
a passing remark – ‘Tell me, is money everything?’
I understand their
feelings, their anguish, their sadness and all that they were talking about.
Surely, life is much more than this. Remember, just as you needed your parents
when young, they need you when they grow old.
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Picture Post:
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Picture Post:
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| Gaganachukki Falls, Mandya, Karnataka in India |
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