Sivaganga district, 500 km from Chennai, is home to the Chettiars, once one of the richest communities in this country. Also known as the Nattukottai Chettiars, this community of merchants was at its flourishing peak in the decades before 1950. They took risk travelling to Burma, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Malaya and other South Asian and African countries to return rich from investments in plantations and estates, the ivory, teak, timber and gemstone trades. They also offered moneylending services, which made them very affluent and respected in the South Asian countries.

The more prosperous Chettiar families turned their 70-odd villages near Karaikudi into places full of grand mansions. There are approximately 25,000 Chettiar mansions built in clusters in 73 villages. I explored Karaikudi, Kandukathan, Athangudi and Pallathur. The mansions here belonged to several influential people, including the founder of Indian Overseas Bank and Annamalai University, and the founder of Indian Bank.

Before Pongal every year, these mansions are cleaned by their caretakers, who wait eagerly for the families to arrive from around the world. The mansions are also used for other festival gatherings and weddings. Every Chettiar wedding is held in the family mansion and registered at a village temple. Chettiars prefer to marry within the community to preserve their wealth, as also tradition and culture. Most of these mansions are embellished with marble and Burma teak, the walls plastered with egg-whites to make them smooth, and lined with handmade colourful tiles exported from Athangudi. One such mansion belongs to Lakshmi Meyyappan, who has been actively involved in documenting and archiving the Chettiar heritage.

Sadly, more than half the Chettiar mansions are now gone. Many sprawling houses are now heritage hotels. The maintenance of these mansions is said to cost ₹2-3 lakh per year. In the mid-2000s, local heritage lovers stepped in to form The Revive Chettinad Development Project. Unesco has now put Chettinad on its watchlist for the World Monument Fund.

Deepti Asthana is a Mumbai-based photojournalist

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