Indian Update

Our journey so far…with a picture or interesting fact from each location.

We have been in India for over a week and travelled from Chennai on the east coast,

Government Museum Chennai, Theatre
It reminded me of the Albert Hall, London

 From where we went on brief excursions to Kanchipuram 

 

Festival Chariot for parading Shiva and Parvati

and Mahabalipuram,

The Nandi

where we had our first glimpse of the sea (the bay and restaurant where Rick Stein cooked)

before being driven south to the former French settlement of Pondicherry

Interior of Eglise de Notre Dames des Anges, Pondicherry
A piece of France in India

I liked this exhibit in the museum – clearly motorised vehicles were late arriving here, and so a local grandee improvised – this is a pousse-pousse – unlike a conventional rikshaw, this is pushed and the passenger steers

Pousse-Pousse (a "Push-Push")

visited the nearby experimental township, Auroville, almost cult-like (a commune where everything is shared excluding access to the Matri Mindir - a huge gold ball in which there is a meditation chamber). Regrettably, there is talk of a French paedophile ring that was active at Auroville a couople of years ago and almost slave like working conditions for some - clearly, due to humans, heaven on earth is hard to achieve.

Auroville's approach is based on the teachings of “The Mother” (a French lady with an Ashram in Pondicherry – her photograph and that of the guru who inspired her, Sri Aurobindo,

"Mother" and her guru displayed on wall
Paper factory, Pondicherry

are more common in Pondicherry than the pictures of leading politicians elsewhere in the region).

Posters of the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Jayalathaa Jayaram
are everywhere She used to be a Bollywood actress

We endured a six hour drive to Trichy, driving through scenic rural villages. The countryside was predominantly rough scrub, like the Bush in Africa, with a goats and a few fields.

A humble village hut

Our hotel in Trichy was dire,

Hotel seating, Trichy

but the Bridhadeeswara temple was stunning, I loved the ancient frescoes

and the Nandi bull (weighing over 20 tonnes and carved from a single rock) was a favourite with all the family.

Our climb up the 400 steps to the Rock Fort Temple was rewarded with a fine view

and we saw our first elephant at the Ranganathswamy Temple,

as well as learning about the 21 gopurams, including the Vellai Gopura (the White Tower, which, according to our guide, commemorates the slaughter of 35,000 priests when the Muslims took the temple in 13^th century

certainly the temple idol lost it eyes due to foreign assault – a French deserter who had apparently converted to the Hindu faith stole it and fled with it to Madras – the diamond, the size of half a hen's egg, is now in Russia and known as the Orlov.

The hotel at Kanchipuram was a blessed oasis after a charmless Indian business hotel (and gosh Chettinad cooking is good).

Wandering the deserted village streets lined with crumbling, deserted mansions was thought provoking – they were built only a couple of decades before I was born.

There was still a picture of King Edward VII on the wall

Feeling refreshed we set off early yesterday to drive to Madurai, arriving in time for lunch. We stayed in what had once been purpose-built quarters, known as “Kochadai” for the managers of a huge steam-powered spinning mill founded by the Harvey brothers from Scotland. Rather like Port Sunlight or New Earswick back in the UK, the Harveys wanted to create a harmonious environment, which supported the working community and weakened caste barriers. Like the Chettinad mansions, life has moved on and their visions have been turned into hotels and tourist attractions.

I enjoyed a solitary visit to the 2,500 year old Meenakshi Amman temple (although most of its structure was built in 17^th century), while my family swam, had massages and tried to logged onto the internet (wifi has been very mixed– apologies for sporadic contact). The lady goddess Meenakshi is the principal deity of the temple, although there is also a sanctum sanctorum for Shiva. The story goes that the Pandyan king and queen were childless but prayed in the forest, raised a Shiva Lingam (which is still in the temple by the Lotus tank)

In honour of Shiva before making votive offerings to plead for a child (Putra Kameshti Yagna). A beautiful little girl with three breasts came out of the holy fire

The king and queen adopted her and a voice from the heavens told them not to be concerned about the extra breast as, when she found her true love and husband, it would vanish. The girl was called Tadaatagai and she was lovely and accomplished (she was trained in all 64 sastras, the fields of science – the Hindus realised that the earth is round and that planets circled the sun long before most civilisations). She learned to be a fine ruler and warrior. To prove herself fit to be crowned she had to wage war in three worlds – she concquered Brahma and Vishnu and then advanced on Shiva. The battle commenced well for her – she defeated Shiva’s army and Nandi the bull, but when she saw Shiva she became all shy and bowed her head in modesty – at that moment her third breast vanished.

Needless to say they were married and lived happily ever after. Her name was changed to Meenakshi when she became a goddess (it means “Fish-eyes” – a description of beauty in these parts).

I returned to the hotel in time for a delicious meal (both for me and the mosquitoes). After a swift swim this morning in a pool that resembled a temple tank, we headed off towards Kerala.

A stunning drive past paddy fields,

Women washing clothes in rivers,

vineyards ,

and mountains.

View from the mountain-side teak forest
to the valley below

I am now in Kerala (a different province) in an area famous for spices and wildlife. I am sure more posts will follow….

What happens when the world changes?

Unlocking the Nagarathars...

House key for a Nagarathar mansion in Kanadukathan
Placed on a locally made, sun-fired tile

Once the confidents to the Chola Kings,  the Chettiars (or Nagarathars as they prefer to be called) were a significant force in establishing India as a primary player in international trade during the early centuries of the second Millennium. Their original roots have been lost - some say they came from Andrha Pradesh, to the north of Chennai, other claim that the ancestral home was Assam. Certainly, they arrived in the lands that were ruled initially by the Pallava kings and rose to prominence, as wealthy merchants, once the Chola dynasty took over, before migrating inland. 

Demonic mask, hung up to ward off evil
outside a temple, Chettinad, India

At first the Nagarathars  dominated the coastal areas, acting as traders, ship-chandlers,  salt merchants and gem dealers. (Even today Muthill and Vairam, "pearl" and "diamond", are common Chettiar names.)  It was as much their acumen with jewellery and gemstones as their respectful, law-abiding nature and integrity that resulted in the Chola Kings relying on them and promoting them within their courts. Eventually the Chettiars were granted the honour of crowning each new successor to the Chola throne.

Shiva with King Rahendra Chola

However, the Chola monarchs were greedy as well as powerful. It is claimed that in the 2nd century AD the Chettiars felt compelled to move to more hospitable locations in the south, to escape the high taxes imposed upon them for trading out of the great ports of Mylai and Mamallapuram.  They settled in Kaveripoompattinam, which became the great port of the ancient Cholas, but is now a sleepy seaside town called Poompuhar. Nagarathar ships sailed to Malaria and Sumatra and traded with people of the Menam and the Mekong. For a thousand years the Chettiars established themselves as the foremost merchants. The most common Indian words for merchant are Sait,  Shetty or Chetty (which a derived from the Sanskrit shresthi, meaning leader of a merchant guild) - it isn't hard to see how the name Chettiar came about.

Elaborate iron work on
Chettiar Raja's palace gate

The Chettiars grew in influence both in India and abroad, under the Chola patronage. Legend has it that it was a Chola king, in the 13th century, who shattered the relationship by abducting a young Chettiar woman and forcing her into wedlock. This so offended the Chettiars (who prided themselves on their chaste women, upstanding morals and who valued the sanctity of marriage) that they revolted. Stories abound as to how they reacted (ranging from mass suicide, leaving only a few babies, to the majority of the community agreeing to emigrate at the invitation of the King Sundra Pandya). Certainly, a significant number of Chettiars moved inland and started referring to themselves as a distinct group - the Chettiars (adding an "ar" to the  term merchant).

Interior of 100 year old Nagarathar home
built from items secured overseas (cast iron from England, marble from Italy,
teak from Burma, glass from Venice, etc...

Like the Scots, the Chettiars have distinct clans, based around the nine temples that were established in the region where their forefathers settled, around Ilayathangudi in central Tamil Nadu. The nine temples are Ilayathangudi,  Mathur,  Vairavanpatti, Iraniyur, Pillaiyarpatti, Nemam, Iluppakudi, Soorakudi and Velangudi. Even today these temples act as clan centres with family members returning - although the majority of Chettiars have moved abroad or into the larger Indian towns.

A Chettiar Raja's Palace

The hotel I wrote about yesterday is a grand Chettiar mansion created in the 1940's,  at a time when the Nagarathar influence was in decline. It is set in what feels like a discarded film set, made up of atmospheric but crumbling grand houses. Plaster is peeling off walls, vigorous plants are forcing their way through brickwork, villas have been ransacked for their costly materials and antiques. Grand gardens are now being used to graze goats and rough huts of nomads and poor subsistence farmers have sprung up, using old walls as shelter and support.

What happened? The root of the problem seems to be that the world changed around the Chettiars and they realised too late. For nearly a thousand years they went from strength to strength. By trading rice, salt and precious gems and by loaning money to trusted contacts the Chettiars accumulated wealth. Their trading contacts were with leaders and prominent traders in countries where they bought and sold such as teak from Burma. 

A crumbling Chettiar facade

When the British East India Company arrived the rajas and leaders who worked with the Chettiars introduced them to the new rulers. When the British capital moved from Madras to Calcutta the established British merchants and official bodies needed trustworthy representatives in the South and they turned to the Chettiars. Soon the Chettiars found themselves the trusted intermediaries for the trade of imperialists (Frence and Dutch as well as British) across Asia and beyond. The Chettiars started creating affluent settlements in the villages around the temples where they had settled and began referring to themselves as Nagarathar - meaning townsfolk as they stood our from others in the rural area where they had settled.

Pottery horses standing outside Chettiar horse temple

The Nagarathars established banks in countries including Mauritius,  Vietnam and even South Africa.  From the late 19th century until the end of World War I their influence grew. They began building the astonishing mansions that I wandered past yesterday in their home villages. The economic upsets of the Great Depression hit a few (the collapse of Arbuthnott & Co. In Madras hurt as many Nagarathars were investors).  The Chettiars had acquired land in places where the traded - Burma, Vietnam and Ceylon. Attitudes towards friends of the colonial powers were changing in each of these countries. Post the end of the Second World War, when many countries gained independence,  the Nagarathars found themselves ostracised and discriminated by the new regimes. Their possessions requisitioned and trading relations ceased. The world changed before most of them realised the threat to their way of life.

I wonder if we are also living in a time of cusp and so used to our ingrained habits and customs that we too are blind to our futures.

1950's wireless - still in use in a
Nagarathar mansion
(my parents had one I remember
from when I was a child)

For My Darling Daughter

Seventy years ago a successful businessman and pillar of Chettiar society, K. V. A. L. M. Ramnathan Chettiar

decided to build a house, as a gift for his newly married daughter, Visalakshi.  An unusual act, as it was traditional only to build houses for sons and the world was at war so construction materials were hard to come buy.

He was a respected, international financier and merchant and only the best would do for his precious child. 

1944 letter requesting permission to build the house

He imported Italian marble, 

Venetian glass lampshades 

Burmese teak

and had wonderful local, sun-fired tiles handmade for the dwelling. The rooms were gracious, high-ceilinged and cool.

A veranda ran around the house.

Beautiful gardens surrounded the dwelling

and wedding gifts, such as pots and pans and cutlery were loaded into the kitchens.

However, after 20 years the house was closed and the family moved - some to big cities in India and others to locations across the globe.

Original house key (our room key)
Bit large to slip into a pocket

Like Sleeping Beauty, the house remained, frozen in time, with dust and cobwebs gently covering its interior with a fine counterpane, whilst the years rolled by.

A decade ago, Visalakshi's daughter decided to re-open the house and breathe new life into it as a hotel so that others could enjoy its peace and ambience.

We have the privilege of staying in it for the next couple of days.

My view as I write