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BOOKS
Chettinad
Flavour
A journey
through the glorious history and rapid development of a close-knit community
By
P.
Chidambaram
 |
THE
CHETTIAR HERITAGE
BY S. Muthiah, Meenakshi Meyappan & Visalakshmi Ramaswamy
PHOTOGRAPHS BY V. Muthuraman
Chettiar herritage/East-West
PRICE: Rs 3,000
PAGES: 275 |
The
Chettiar community can trace its origins to the 2nd century A.D. Two great
Tamil epics of that period describe the Chettiars as traders and merchants
who eventually won the honour of crowning every successor to the Chola
throne. From ship-chandlers, salt merchants and gem dealers to bankers,
industrialists and professionals, the community prospered for over 1,000
years. Its most glorious 150 years began when the Chettiars ventured into
Ceylon in 1796 and Burma in 1824. Its darkest period were the 1950s and
the '60s which witnessed an exodus from these two countries and led to
the impoverishment of many Chettiar families.
At the end
of this turbulent phase, the Chettiar population is only 1,25,000 and
claim as their home only 75 villages in the southern part of Tamil Nadu.
That cluster of villages is called Chettinad. It is also the home of an
extraordinary heritage of temples and mansions, customs and rituals, arts
and crafts and hospitality and cuisine.
The three
authors confess that they have "studied deep at the well of Chettiar
heritage". They have put together a remarkable book of 800 pictures
and a narrative that is marked by understatement and an economy of words.
Their contribution, no doubt of great value, is however overshadowed by
the outstanding genius of the photographer, V. Muthuraman, also a Chettiar.
Muthuraman
and his camera have gone into the villages and homes of the Chettiars
to capture in brilliant colour the sculpture of the temples, the architecture
of the mansions, the ancient paintings, the village festivals, the family
rituals, the glitter of metal and stone and the artifacts gathered over
the years. He has also captured the contemporary Chettiar village affected
by migration and now, like any other village with crumbling houses, neglected
tanks, old women-folk and families struggling to reconcile their rich
heritage with their poor economic status. Other photographs, lent generously
from family albums, record the rapid transformation that has taken place
in the past 50 years.
The numerically
small community has moved out of the villages, creating its own diaspora
in India and abroad. Nevertheless, thanks to its contributions to banking,
industry, education and temple-building, it has a disproportionately large
influence on the social life of cities like Chennai, Madurai and Tiruchirapalli.
The authors have no illusion about the heritage they have chosen to record,
and readily acknowledge that it will be overwhelmed by the march of time.
Yet, they were determined to document in word and picture the community's
legacy of a glorious 100 years. It is a labour of pride. The authors call
the book a pictorial record for posterity. It is a pictorial treasure
to cherish.
The only
disappointment is that the recording seems to have stopped abruptly somewhere
in the 1970s, as if the film roll in Muthuraman's camera had run out.
The revival of the community in the past 25 years, its emancipation from
rigid tradition and the Chettiar diaspora surely deserve another volume.
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