The Chettiar Identity Subtitle Script

Karu.Muthiah: Today, there is a diaspora of chettiar youth in every nook and corner of the world. There
is no single country without them and they are earning hard and generating wealth. But, if you ask them
their address, it will be in one of the 75 chettinad villages. However high a bird flies, its nest can only be
on the tree top. Likewise, wherever we go to make a living, our address will reside in one of these 75
chettinad villages. In essence, we belong to the Nagara Sivan temple of that village as homesteaders.
Our names will be in the Panathiruppu maintained for the family lineage aka Pangalis. Every house
will have a name or denomination and to identify us, we have to mention the name of the house we
belong to. There will be nick names for the houses based on its appearance or function; for example
there is a house by name called Aayiram Jannal Veedu (1000 windows house) in Karaikudi, due to its
immense number of windows in the house. Or the houses will be known by the Vilasam (address in
series of initials) like S.U. House or Korattiyar house. This is what we take as our identity. Wherever
we go for a living, if someone asks for your identity, you have to mention not just the name of the town
or village, but the name of the house. Only houses give the identity to you for one to know you. There
are 4000 pullis/ families in Karaikudi, but to identify yourself your houses name needs to be
mentioned. So, we have to recognize the emphasis of our ancestral houses and that is the key point of
this documentary.

Recently, a nagarathar youth who works in Erode tried to purchase land and build a house for himself.
His boss is said to have commented this: You all are nagarathars; Do you all build houses? I thought,
you people only build forts!

Angappan: On an average, there are 400 to 550 sq.ft of ..

Karu.Muthiah: The nagarathar youth replied that it was a bygone era where the nagarathars were
immensely rich. He further mentioned that We used to have vast parcels of land in Chettinad. There is
scarcity of land in the towns where we live now. Also, we have less wealth compared to our past. Hence,
now we dont build forts, we only build nests! The nagarathar youth kept the thought of this
conversation in his mind and he named his newly constructed house as The nest. Back in the days,
nagarathars did not earn in their home country. They used to earn in foreign lands. They used to leave
behind their wives, family and earn in a foreign land. They visit their native land, once in 3 years. They
used to stay for a period of 6 months to a year before going back again to the foreign land to make a
living. These architecturally marvelous palatial houses, the architectural details and construction of
which are hard to conceive even by the modern architects and civil engineers, about 90% of the houses
were built by the nagarathar women who were left behind in the villages by the nagarathar men.
Chettiars used to send money for the construction of these palatial houses, and the Achis build the
houses under their meticulous supervision. So, this shows how dedicated, talented and detail oriented
these Achis were, in building up these mansions.
Nagappan: My great grandfather Muthukaruppan Chettiar sent teak from Burma and my great
grandmother Umayal Achi built this house.

Annamalai: My house is Melakotaiyaar Veedu. This is one of the biggest houses in Karaikudi. This
house has 46 rooms. There are 20 double rooms, and the remaining are single rooms. This house was
built as 3 Kattus (Blocks) the third kattu was built as kitchen. This house has seen 7 generations and
has 74 Pullis/owners.

Karu.Muthiah: Isnt this a great feat? No other community than the Nagarathar community has the
privilege to say that they have built and owned these elaborate mansions. So, we have to understand
that our ancestors were great achievers. Nachiappa swamigal used to say that for the houses that have
suns rays gracing the courtyards of houses like these need no vasthu considerations and you can place
anything anywhere in the house. So, these houses are special in that aspect. Another point Nachiappa
swamigal says about these mansions is that he has visited many places around the world and there are
houses like these only in Greece and nowhere else. Back in the days, there used to be trade and
commerce relations between Tamil Nadu and Greece. Hence, we might have mimicked their house
construction or they might have mimicked ours. The fact that, only these 2 countries have manisons like
these in existence shows that we have an identity in this world and our ancestors were able and
accomplished businessmen. We believe that these houses are the places our ancestors live in even in
their eternal life. Thats why we worship them through Padaippus. We have a room called Swami
veedu specifically designated to conduct Padaippu in these mansions. There is no partition or specific
ownership for that particular room and it is a common area of worship for all owners of the house.
Padaippus will be conducted in these rooms and the Objects of worship will be hung as a box in that
room. So, we believe that our ancestors live in that house still. Where will the soul of our ancestors
reside, if we dismantle the house and sell the artifacts of these houses? If we are 10 families now in the
current generation of the lineage, we build 10 separate small houses in different places. Some, who are
not well off, dont even bother to build a house for themselves. So, where will the soul of our ancestors
reside? Will we take the soul of our ancestors with us as a nomad? We are not a nomadic community.
There are other communities, I dont want to specify them, which will relocate from their native places
and migrate to Chennai or Madurai fully, leaving behind and selling off their houses. If you ask them of
their native place, they will say a name of a town or village as their ancestral native, but will say that
they have no connections of any sort there and have become the citizen of the new town e.g., I am a
citizen of Madurai. We never do that. However may years we are in a town or city, we mention our
ancestral village as our native and identify as the citizen of that place. For example we say we belong to
Okkur or Kadiyapatti or Nemathanpatti. Thats what we will say when asked of our native place.

Whats the Reason:

Nagappan: There is no unity among the current generation of the house owners. House is becoming
dilapidated and getting destroyed. It is getting to a situation where the maintenance is becoming
impossible.
Angappan: The first reason for the poor current condition of houses is the water damage due to
incessant rains in the area during rainy season. The second one is due to termite damage. The third is
due to the water logging in the cracks developed in the houses. Fourth is the bushes and shrubs that
grow in the damp cracks and crevices of these houses which grow from the seeds that are deposited by
bird droppings and this damages the houses badly. If the houses are disposed off at an early stage with
minimal damage, it fetches good money. If disposed off after the damage is extensive, there will be no
value to the house at all.

Nagappan: The Nilai (cross beam) is very extensive in breadth and length. It is Rudraksha Nilai. I
have the grief that I could not save this from damage. Our grand kids will not be able to see the
grandeur of it. We are planning to sell off the wooden roofings, measure and partition the land and build
small houses for ourselves in our lots. I married off my kids by renting marriage halls outside of this
house. My 60th birthday is in Dec and I dont have the blessings to have it in this house.

All used to call me Va.Tha.Muthu. Nagappan. Not sure what my grandkid will be called as!?

What can be done?

Karu.Muthiah: If you ask me, whether we dont have the wealth and capability to maintain these
mansions, I would say we do have them now. 20-30 years ago, the situation was different. Now
Nagarathar youth are well educated, earning well, and we are making good profits in business as well.
We do have the ability to maintain and upkeep our ancestral houses. We may say that we dont have
enough wealth to construct these huge mansions, but we can definitely maintain the existing ones. Then
why are the houses not maintained? It is not because of the reasons of wealth, but because of the
disunity amongst us or the lack of compromising attitude and reciprocity. Like I said, if we have 3
families owning the ancestral house, then the maintenance rests with the three families. If 30 lakhs is
the maintenance cost, then each of the 3 families should bear 10 lakhs as their part of maintenance
expense. May be a single family or some may not be in a position to spend 10 lakhs for their part of
maintenance. What should we do in situations like these? Even if that family does not have funds to
spend now, his son or grandson will be able to afford the cost of maintenance in the future and they
should. Thats the belief of the family members and so is ours. Whoever is wealthy enough to afford
now can bear the expenses and can retrieve the amount now spent at a later date, once the not-so-well-
to-do family or their heirs can afford it in the future. The mentality to forfeit the amount spent should
be there even if the money spent for others cannot be retrieved. The mindset of the wealthy
shareholders of the house should be such that they are spending it for the houses built by their
forefathers for them. In the same token, the families unable to contribute for the maintenance of the
ancestral houses now should keep this act in mind with much gratitude. They should have the sense of
thankfulness for the other parties spending on behalf of them and treat these as debts and when their
sons or daughters earn well, these debts should be paid off first. In some instances, the not-so-well-to-
do families come for their shares and rights without even thinking of shouldering the responsibilities.
The pride lies in the fact that the person who is an advisor for American president belongs to a family in
Devakottai; not just his name as an advisor. Hence, we should not lose our identity and if we want to
protect our identity, we should have unity in our macro families like before, younger generation should
heed to the advice of the family elders, families should come forward and spend money for the welfare
of the ancestral house and macro families and those who are beneficiaries now should develop the
mindset to give it back when they or their son or grandson becomes wealthy enough to spend again for
greater good.

Deivanai Achi: Since we maintained this house every 5 years, we are fortunate to have this house now. I
believe if our sons and grandsons maintain this house, this house will be there for another 100 years.

Angappan: Since there are many houses that are well taken care of, the dismantling of these palatial
houses have reduced.

Annamalai: Even if some families are not able to contribute their fair share for maintenance expenses,
we should not be making it a big deal out of it. We repaired this house for 30 lakhs 2 years back.

Nagappan: Todays younger generation should maintain their ancestral houses with unity amongst
themsleves. Because we did not do so. Women should stay away from the decision making and let the
men folks make the right decisions.

Karu.Muthiah: I have mentioned 4 reasons. Our identity, Our ancestors accomplishments, Symbol of
our heritage, The places where our ancestral souls reside. Considering all these, please try to save our
ancestral palatial houses. Dont let it go to a stage of disassemble it and selling it off. Please brainstorm
among yourselves to save these houses. Those who have the might, please contribute generously and
support these efforts. Thank you.

Arun Muthu: My name is Arunachalam. I belong to the Korattiyar house in Karaikudi. This house was
built in the Bidadi area of Bangalore in 2010. Temple artisans were called for to build the decors of Raja,
Gajalakshmi in this house. Bought a medium size Nilai (Entrance door) and embellished them with
Suriyapalakai, Manthaangi and Kuthiraikattai (Ornamental wood dcor) to make it magnificent.
Used Athangudi tiles for flooring. The roofs were built in RCC and wooden false ceilings were fixed to
make it resemble Chettinad houses. Used acrylic sheets due to the lack of colored stained glasses. Being
born into a Chettiar family with riches, shouldnt I long for to build a Chettiar house? I also desired the
same. We put in wooden pillars, Arch windows and Kalasas of elephants with trunks.

While setting up a 50 acre Organic farm in Kollegal area of Karnataka, When I wanted to build a farm
house I decided to build it like a traditional Chettiar house with Courtyard, faade etc. Since similar
houses were built almost more than 80 years ago, I was a bit doubtful on this undertaking. After World
war II, no one in our community built traditional Chettiar houses. I was born and raised in a palatial
house that was built by my great grandfather more than 150 years ago. Since my ancestors migrated
from a village called Koratti, our house is referred to by the name Korattiyar House. When I was a
kid, my grandfather used to mention with pride that our houses of massive proportions can never be
built again. If our grand kids want to remember us after our time period, I thought we should also build
something like massive like a traditional Chettiar house. If you look at our ancestral houses, there will
bigger portraits of our grandparents. We can identify our Vilasams (identity as address) to that
grandfather. We dont have an identity before the construction of that house by Vilasams. There is no
RCC in this house. Instead, we have put in Madras Terraced roofing. After placing Iron girders on
wooden pillars, wooden planks are packed together and bricks layed on top them. This is referred to
Madras Terraced Roofing. Even today, when our dilapidated traditional houses are dismantled and sold,
we get 50 lakhs to a Crore. The wood used in these houses are the reason why they fetch those
amounts. If these houses are built in concrete, it will be worth nothing. If you look at our traditional
houses, they have used ceramic Pannersembu (Rose water sprayer) for the elevation. We also made
brand new Pannersembu to be installed in this farm houses elevation. The speciality of Chettiar
houses is that the entire house is built in wood. The wood that is sold for 2000 will be sold for 10000 or
20000 after 50 or 100 years. These houses are fit for any climatic conditions. I have built this house with
utmost dedication for about 2 years. The Chettiar Heritage book and the photographs I took while in
Chettinad were instrumental in helping me built this house. Every brick bears my name. Masons and
Carpenters reached out to me through Whatsapp for clarifying their doubts when I was out of town. The
masons and carpenters who built this house do not have any prior experience in building Chettiar
houses. Current generation Engineers and Architects have no know-how on the construction of these
houses. I took advice from the merchants and traders who deal with Chettinad antiques and dismantled
Chettiar houses. The pride and credit of building a magnificent palace in bricks and roofing tiles will ever
rest with our Nagarathars. Doesnt Chettinad houses infer Grandeur and Opulence? You need a
minimum of 3 grounds land for building a house like this. Nagarathar identity lies in these houses where
we live in. It is the need of the day that the wealthy in our community build traditional Chettiar houses
like our ancestors did. There is nothing impossible for Nagarathars. We, Nagarathars, who are outside of
Chettinad and abroad should not forget the responsibility that we are to protect the community and its
identity. In these times of drastic changes, houses like these are imminent to recognize and remember
our names for our grandkids like we remember our forefathers. By building houses like these, it is for
sure that we will be a great motivational force for our forthcoming generations.

I sincerely thank everyone who has watched this documentary. It is since 25 years, I came to Bangalore. I
own an Engineering company. I am not a professional construction engineer. I take up these initiatives
out of my own interest and passion. After watching this documentary, if at the very least 10 Chettiar
houses are properly maintained or newly built, I will be the happiest man in the world.