Word: chettinad
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...height of their affluence. They returned home, but abandoned their properties, preferring to relocate to India's heaving cities to rebuild their fortunes. Today, unable or unwilling to maintain their former family seats, many descendants are taking the buildings apart and selling the spoils. The antique shops of Chettinad's biggest town, Karaikudi, are full of them?and they are pitifully cheap. Intricate, 200-year-old teak doors?depicting a wonderful miscellany of Hindu Gods, Victorian ladies and scenes from the Raj?fetch a mere...
...dusty plains of Chettinad?in India's Tamil Nadu state?are known for anything, it is Chettinad chicken. This rich curry is a staple of Indian menus from Bombay to Birmingham, England. But the desert region may have tasted a hint of a more enticing asset. Many of the once palatial homes of its former merchants, who made their riches during the heyday of the Raj, are up for grabs. By some estimates, as many as 10,000 of these crumbling structures are spread across the sands, awaiting rescue. Authorities hope that some will be turned into hotels or museums...
...Financially, Chettinad has never been the same since the decline of the local Nagarathars. Once dubbed "the moneylenders of the [British] Empire," the Nagarathars, lacking suitable land for agriculture, were emigr?s by tradition. As bankers and traders, they made fortunes in teak, marble and pottery across Asia during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Their wealth was remitted to Chettinad and used to build the homes that are now decaying...
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