As we covered Namakkal and Kolli in a day, decided to move out of this town the next day and travel to a region in TN which we haven't been to - Chettinad. Drove via Trichy and reached Karaikudi in 3.5 hours. Had to roam around to find a good accommodation. While chettiyar house type hotels were highly priced, the lower priced ones were poorly maintained. Finally zeroed in on Abhirami paradise for Rs.2000 per night. After checking in, the reception organized a pricey guide for us who could not drive.
Selvakumar was our guide for Chettinad. He first took us to a local restaurant for lunch, where only variety rice was available. Two scoops of rice is placed on the banana leaf placed before us for Rs.40 to Rs.50 each. We asked him to take us around chettinad heritage sites. Our first site after lunch was Thirumayyam fort, not the best place just after lunch. We had to again go back to highway to Trichy to visit the fort. A tanker is placed at the top of the fort and is visible from anywhere in the fort. There is a natural pond which is said to have not dried at all. The foothill houses a vishnu temple. Fort has its links to Kattabomman and now is under the Archeological survey of India. Here again a secret underground passage is available but has been shut now. This fort entrance fee is Rs.50 per head.
Took the highway again and drove to Kanadukathan. On the way to Chettinad palace we were awestruck to see the huge chettiyar houses. Due to maintenance efforts the place was closed and tourists are only allowed to take snaps from outside. This palace has appeared in numerous Tamil movies, prominent one being - Kandukonden Kandukonden.
We drove through the streets around the palace only to come across old and huge chettiyar houses. Selva took us to a chettiyar house whose owner was the sammandhi to the king at chettinad palace. This house was the typical ettukattu one. One is charged Rs.50 to visit the house. The first hall was a huge once with wooden carved roof, which still looks stunning after 150 years. Next is the row of rooms on both sides with open roof in the center. Here you can see Kashmir carpet in the sitting area and wooden writing table with auto lock along with rolling flexible chair. Next to this is the eating area and further inside is the kitchen and then the bathrooms. We came back to the sitting area again to climb to the first floor. The electrical work in the house including fans, lights and wires have not been replaces since inception all those years ago. In the first floor, there are rooms and windows opening to the open roof area. The house remains cool inspite of the warm afternoon temperature. Floorings are done with athankudi tiles and egg lime stretches. From the first floor a door opens to a narrow wooden spiral staircase taking you to the terrace. The terrace area has designed walls with decorative items and gives a view of other huge mansions around this house. This tells you how wealthy the chettiyars of those times were.
Our next place was the shop and saree weaving place. All visitors to Chettinad buy cotton sarees here, made from handlooms. Cost of each saree starts from Rs.600, not less than what we can buy in cities but still can go for it as a remembrance of chettinad trip.
We then left to the near by town Athankudi to see in person how the tile was made by hand in a workshop and them to the Athankudi palace. This is said to have been built by a person who initially worked at the chettinad palace court. Unfortunately we had to just see the palace from outside as the person in-charge was out. As it was getting later we decided to quickly make a trip to local market and then retire. The karaikudi market has separate streets for gold jewellary, metal vessels and commodities. This is near the Kopudai amman temple. We were surprised to see old wooden and metal items here - pallaangkuzhi, ariyamanai, soppu in panai olai boxes, mukkali, spice boxes and nadavandi. With this we retired for the day.
Selvakumar was our guide for Chettinad. He first took us to a local restaurant for lunch, where only variety rice was available. Two scoops of rice is placed on the banana leaf placed before us for Rs.40 to Rs.50 each. We asked him to take us around chettinad heritage sites. Our first site after lunch was Thirumayyam fort, not the best place just after lunch. We had to again go back to highway to Trichy to visit the fort. A tanker is placed at the top of the fort and is visible from anywhere in the fort. There is a natural pond which is said to have not dried at all. The foothill houses a vishnu temple. Fort has its links to Kattabomman and now is under the Archeological survey of India. Here again a secret underground passage is available but has been shut now. This fort entrance fee is Rs.50 per head.
Took the highway again and drove to Kanadukathan. On the way to Chettinad palace we were awestruck to see the huge chettiyar houses. Due to maintenance efforts the place was closed and tourists are only allowed to take snaps from outside. This palace has appeared in numerous Tamil movies, prominent one being - Kandukonden Kandukonden.
We drove through the streets around the palace only to come across old and huge chettiyar houses. Selva took us to a chettiyar house whose owner was the sammandhi to the king at chettinad palace. This house was the typical ettukattu one. One is charged Rs.50 to visit the house. The first hall was a huge once with wooden carved roof, which still looks stunning after 150 years. Next is the row of rooms on both sides with open roof in the center. Here you can see Kashmir carpet in the sitting area and wooden writing table with auto lock along with rolling flexible chair. Next to this is the eating area and further inside is the kitchen and then the bathrooms. We came back to the sitting area again to climb to the first floor. The electrical work in the house including fans, lights and wires have not been replaces since inception all those years ago. In the first floor, there are rooms and windows opening to the open roof area. The house remains cool inspite of the warm afternoon temperature. Floorings are done with athankudi tiles and egg lime stretches. From the first floor a door opens to a narrow wooden spiral staircase taking you to the terrace. The terrace area has designed walls with decorative items and gives a view of other huge mansions around this house. This tells you how wealthy the chettiyars of those times were.
Our next place was the shop and saree weaving place. All visitors to Chettinad buy cotton sarees here, made from handlooms. Cost of each saree starts from Rs.600, not less than what we can buy in cities but still can go for it as a remembrance of chettinad trip.
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| Handloom |
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| Handloom and saree shop |
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| Painted house |
We then left to the near by town Athankudi to see in person how the tile was made by hand in a workshop and them to the Athankudi palace. This is said to have been built by a person who initially worked at the chettinad palace court. Unfortunately we had to just see the palace from outside as the person in-charge was out. As it was getting later we decided to quickly make a trip to local market and then retire. The karaikudi market has separate streets for gold jewellary, metal vessels and commodities. This is near the Kopudai amman temple. We were surprised to see old wooden and metal items here - pallaangkuzhi, ariyamanai, soppu in panai olai boxes, mukkali, spice boxes and nadavandi. With this we retired for the day.
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