In a cluster of villages in Tamil Nadu’s Sivaganga and Pudukkottai districts stand some of the most extravagant houses in India, in places with no obvious reason to have them.
The Chettiars were a merchant and banking community who traded across Burma, Ceylon, Malaya and Vietnam through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They brought the money home and built. Burmese teak, Italian marble, Belgian mirrors, English tiles, local limestone plaster polished to look like ivory.
Then the trade networks collapsed — Burma’s nationalisations, the Depression, the wars. The families dispersed to Chennai and abroad. The mansions stayed, opened for weddings once a year, cared for by a caretaker and a ledger.
Where to go. Karaikudi is the natural base. Kanadukathan has the greatest concentration of mansions, several of which can be visited for a small fee. Athangudi is where the famous handmade tiles are still produced — you can watch them being made, poured by hand, one at a time.
The food. Chettinad cuisine deserves the trip by itself, and it is not simply “spicy”. It is built on freshly roasted and ground masalas, star anise, stone flower, and a lot of black pepper. Eat in a home or a heritage house rather than a hotel.
When to go. November to February. Summer here is punishing.
Why go now. Many of these houses are being sold for their teak and their tiles, piece by piece. A fair number of what stands today will not.
