Chettinad heritage unravelling into the Maritime Dynasty

Chettinad heritage unravelling into the Maritime Dynasty

One of the most vibrant expression of this culture is their excellence in architecture,even the small villages in this area has huge palatial houses which were decorated with very big wooden doors, which hasbeautiful wooden carvings. The pillars and wooden beam are made up of wood with the beautiful carvings. These wooden items are mainly made of Burmese teak. Wall of the houses are made up of specialformation of cement which keeps its shining despite crossing centuries. Floor of the houses are decorated by athangudi tiles;athangudi is a place in Chettinad, which manufacturers these tiles.

Combination of these specialties from wall to door and tiles to pillars, further decorated with Italian glasses on the windows, makes this palatial houses; sprawling more than one acre; as the most habitable place in summer and in winter.

Further the most adoring thing in Chettinadheritages is its household utensils, which are made up silver, copper, brass; they are not only unique in design but also decoratethe exterior of the houses. It is important to stress that economy value of this utensilslike Aruvalmanai (vegetable cuttar), thengaithirvgi (coconut grater), agappai koodu(ladle holder) are more than their aesthetic value.

This sprawling houses never looks vacant and ambience inside the houses is filled with the pristine serenity because of vast wooden furniture from kankapillai mesai(accountant table) to mukkali (three lagged stools). It is not a surprise that thesewooden items sold for more than Rs. 5 lakhs.

Along with these wooden carvings, thisChettinad heritage also embodies culture of dry area on which it sits, mainly artifacts made up of dry palm leafs kottans whichbeautifully fills a space between land, woodand the wall.

This beautiful expression of civilization iscreated by the people who have also left no stones unturned to decorate themselves with the fashion of Jewellery and Sarees.This jewellery made up of gold, many atime filled with the various colors of diamond. The designs of the jewellery wasunique and their expression matches with modernity of their looks and antiquity of the house. They use to wear a matching sareeswhich are popularly called kandangi sarees, which are very peculiar in design and in thefeel.

This vibrant culture unfortunately was not expressed to the tourism world the way the palaces of the Rajasthan were told. Further because of changing economic fortunes, people started destroying their houses and selling the wooden architecture utensils etc. for a cheaper rate to Western Countries.Understanding the need for preserving the culture of Chettinad and promote its tourism potential, Hon’ble Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, India, Dr.E.M.Sudarsana Natchiappan is initiated the concept of “Chettinad heritage” when he became MP first time in 1999. Based on theserious and consistent efforts many of the palatial house owners converted their houses into heritage hotel, which are otherwise not maintainable as the house because of this magnificent size, such as palace hotel Naranyana Villas, etc. This house also now-a-days is given to Cinema shootings mainly tamil moves. Hon’ble Ex union minister has developed these new trends on tourism which has effectively stopped the trend of destroying the old houses andselling wooden architecture. Presently it is understood, there are around 4000 houses of this type in an around Chettinad area.Which may be valuing between Rs. 6 lakhs to Rs. 3 crore.

Now the renewed efforts should be made to keep the cultural pillars of this maritime  dynasty for long time to come .