Before I decided my trip to Chettinad; my experience with Chettinad was spicy food I had once experienced in Indiranagar, Bangalore. That was the most hottest food I had in my life-time.
Now when I googled Chettinad was referred as a place, caste, food. And big question from where did this Karaikudi fit into.
From Wiki got to know Karaikudi is the capital of Chettinad and Chettinad is a region in Tamil-Nadu.
In a nut-shell, Chettinad is a small village some 15 kms from Karaikudi. Chettinad is also a community name. (may be people who belonged to Chettinad village).
Then why did Chettinad grow to the extent of getting to be known by lots of people.
Well, Chettinad community people are prolific Philanthropist and Enterprenur. They are the people who started the banking system in India. For instance Indian Bank and Indian Overseas bank was started by them. Many of them went to work in southeast asia like Japan, Burma, Singapore, Vietanam. They earn lots of money and become a philanthropist after they come back to India. They had a big fancy for constructing beautiful and royal houses and they believed in Big family. The houses would be constructed in a big land which would have road both in the front and rear part of the houses; and doors lined up straightly from front to rear. The wooden structures were mostly from Burma. Some more information about the houses is found in this link.
They always spent part of the earned money in constructing houses and temples.Still many temples in this region is being maintained by them.
The Chettinad people are shivaites, non-veg eaters and business class people. This is unlikely with present day business class men who was Vishnu(Venkateshwara) followers.
They are the only community in the world to be divided on the basis of Lord Shiva Temples. The entire community is classified on the basis of Nine Temples, popularly referred to as the Nagara Kovils.
Now, the trip with BASC friends was to get a feel of the place. Idea was to visit the houses, temples and not to leave the Food.
Karaikudi is 450 kms from Bangalore and takes approx 10 hrs.
We stayed in a small village house which was 7 Kms from Karaikudi.
The area is covered by lots of water bodies and ground water level is astonishingly high. Ideal to take bath in one of the many lakes/ponds.
The area is covered by lots of water bodies and ground water level is astonishingly high. Ideal to take bath in one of the many lakes/ponds.
From here we headed towards Kanadukathan. Even here there is a massive bungalow. It seems this is closed for tourist from past 2 years. So, could only take photograph from outside. But, because of local contacts were able to sneak into.
Kanadukathan is the birth place of our present home minister P Chidambaram.
On the way we had taste of Chettinad food. So, it was a myth that Chettinad food is spicy. Since the chettinad produce spices, so Chettinad hotels (outside Chettinad) use lots of these spices and therefore food is very hot. But, Chettiar themselves don't use much of spices. The taste of the food is very subjective.
Kanadukathan is the birth place of our present home minister P Chidambaram.
On the way we had taste of Chettinad food. So, it was a myth that Chettinad food is spicy. Since the chettinad produce spices, so Chettinad hotels (outside Chettinad) use lots of these spices and therefore food is very hot. But, Chettiar themselves don't use much of spices. The taste of the food is very subjective.
From here we headed towards Thirumayam. It has a small and a beautiful fort. Adjacent to the fort there are 2 temples dedicated to Shiva and Vishnu.
From here we headed towards Pillayarpatti temple dedicated to Lord Ganesha.Worth visiting this temple. It is one of the very few Ganesha idol having only 2 hands. And one of the few massive temples having Ganesha as main idol.
Next day we started with a ride on bullock-cart. My personnel first time on a cart and cherished it. And we certainly caught eyes of most of the village people.
After the ride we headed towards Nemam Kovil dedicated to Lord Shiva. The pujary was very happy to tell about Chettinad family and explained about the temple.
From here headed towards Kundrakudi which is dedicated to Lord Muruga. The temple is placed on a small hillock.
From here we headed towards KalayarKoil dedicated towards Shiva Temple. The gopura is massive and we specially witnessed Elephant getting bathed.
From here the temple visit was done and we headed towards a small village Nachiapuram. This village has houses of chettiars. And mostly all of them look similar and beautiful
On the way back to Karaikudi we just passed through our present Home Minister P Chidambaram's House. It is a massive house which has India Flag in the front.
At Karaikudi we wanted to visit a house which has 1000 windows. But unfortunately couldn't make it to that house.
Snaps in a glance is given in this link
Snaps in a glance is given in this link
The Lat-Long of the places visited is given in this link.
A,M - Karaikudi Bus Stand
A,M - Karaikudi Bus Stand
B, G - Place we stayed
C - Athangudi Palace
D - Kanadukathan Palace
E - Thirumayam Fort and Temple
F - Pillaiyarpatti Ganesha Temple
H - Nemam Kovil - Shiva Temple
I - Kundrakudi Murugan Temple
J - KalayarKoil Shiva Temple
L - Home Minister P.Chidambaram's house
And the team which made it to the Trip.
