The Hindu (Tamil Nadu) ·
Tamil Nadu | How the Museum of Chettinad keeps a community’s memory alive
As part of the Chettinad Heritage and Cultural Festival which kicks off this weekend, visitors will get a peek into the museum, which officially opens in November
As you drive towards the Chettinad region in southern Tamil Nadu, the landscape gradually gives way to dry shrub. Palmyra trees line the farmlands, their spiked leaves casting shadows on the tar road. Large tamarind trees shed their fruit, which crunches under the tyres of passing cars.
Over the years, the Chettiar community has settled here, building a formidable network of trade and commerce across India and Asia. It is a small and proud community. Today, its members are scattered all over the world, from the U.S. to Europe to Southeast Asia, yet their ancestral homes remain in Chettinad, in their natal villages. And they return, almost like homing pigeons, for festivals, weddings and death ceremonies.
With the men often away for extended periods, they built vast residential compounds enclosed by high walls and filled with numerous rooms for their joint families to live in. Within these walls, Burma teak was intricately carved with deities; kitchens were stocked and food prepared with whatever was in season, with provisions carefully stored to last through the dry summer months.
