Chettinad ~ Siva Travelogue

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Chettinad

Chettinad
Chettinad is the home of the Nattukottai Chettiars (Nagarathar), a prosperous banking and business community. It is also known for its local cuisine, architecture, and religious temples....

Chittinad houses in these towns are,
Karaikudi, Kanadukathan, Pallathur, Kottaiyur, Rayavaram, Aathangudi, Ariyakudi, Pillayar Patti in Sivagangai District at Tamil Nadu.

Chettinad House
The Chettinad houses are built on a rectangular, traversal plot that stretches across two streets,with the front door opening into the first street and the back into the second. Looking in from the main threshold, your eye travels in a straight line across a series of inner counrtyards,each a diminishing rectangle of light, leading out to the back door.

Most of the Chettiyar’s house in Chettinad consists of thousands of windows, hundreds of wooden pillars, door frames with Gajalakshmi who symbolize Goddess of wealth and a Kumbam(brass pot) with sprouting leaves engraved on them to symbolize wealth. Some buildings has a scene-by-scene narration of Mahabharatha and Ramayana in its wooden panels and walls. Some mansions are filled up with pillars of different materials such as wood, stone, plaster and metal. These pillars are coated with egg white stand
tall in marvelously big dinner hall called Kalyana Kottahai. These houses may also contain raised platform known as ‘Thinnai’ used to protect from sun and rain.

The chettiar's main intent was to make his house a statement of his social success and he put everything into it, but the pastiche of styles - Kerala Woodwork, neo-classical, Victorian, Anglo-Indian - blend into a beautiful pattern. The airy courtyards seem somehow to absorb and mute everything down inside. The outside are not always so lucky - colours, curves, domes and arches often clash painfully but the message of splendour is not lost.

Most of the Chettinad mansions are treasure troves that mirror the passion for art and craft in this ‘Nagathar’
Chettinad nagarathars’ buildings are embellished with ‘Chettinad plaster’ whose other names are –
1) White – Vellai poochchu
2) Egg plastering and
3) Muthu Poochchu

The most important characteristic features of Chettinad Buildings are –
1) Cluster Houses,
2) Mostly East West orientation,
3) High – rise compound wall (front side),
4) Entrance Arch with stone steps,
5) Elevated plinth,
6) Tiled Portico,
7) Facade with stucco sculptures,
8) Verandah ‘Thinnai’(two Platforms),
9) Wooden Pillars on it,
10) High door frame with ornate wood work,
11) Double main door,
12) ‘pattalai’ or pattasalai (smaller version of the thinnai- platforms),
13) Open Courtyard (‘Mutram – Valavu’),
14) Second /third courtyard/s,
15) Passage on all the four sides around the Mutram, is called ‘Suththupathi’,
16) Edges of the passages are lined with cut stone slabs known as ‘vellaikkallu’,
17) Stand on them are the stone pillars meant for supporting the roof,
18) Slanting clay - tiled roofs,
19) Square – flat tiles floor of the ‘mutram’ will have rectangle stone slabs on all the four corners to bear the brunt of the falling rain water,
20) Small single / double rooms on one side or either side of the passage (‘suththukkattu’) length – wise,
21) Kitchen on the last ‘kattu’,
22) Staircase on one or two or all the four corners,
23) Banquet Hall Bhojan Hall ‘Panthi kattu’ on the side of the first kattu,
24) Floors laid with
i) Italian marble Black and White,
ii) Granite in some places,
iii) Athangudi hand – made tiles - ‘Pookkallu’,
25) Japanese and Spanish tiles were both used for side walls and floor in such of those places where not treaded frequently,
26) Beams, pillars, brackets, capitals, frames all made of Burma teak,
27) All the mediums used in making columns viz, wood, stone, brick, and iron,
28) First floor facade is invariably adorned by colonnade made of stone, wood, and bricks,
29) Window niches and arches above are decorated with stucco work or paintings.
30) Designed for collecting / harvesting rain water (especially in courtyard (Mutram)).

Chettinadu Palace
Raja Palace in Kanadukathan
Kanadukathan - Kanadukathan is most famous for its Chettinad cuisine and for the architecture of its houses, whose main entrances are shaped to resemble those of temples. the famous Chettinad Mansion also known as the Raja's Palace at Kanadukathan. Here are some snapshots...