RESTORING LOST GLORY

Most Chettinad mansions in south Tamil Nadu are mere shadows of their magnificent past. A handful of Chettiars are trying to revive them

- LAKSHMI SUBRAMANIAN

Renovating a home is no easy task. And if the home in question is an ancestral mansion, it becomes a different ball game altogether.

Ask Subbaiah Muthaiah (name changed), who took on the mammoth task of renovating his 150-year-old mansion at Devakottai, a popular Chettinad town in interior Sivaganga district of south Tamil Nadu. What was more daunting was getting all his pangalis (paternal cousins) to agree to the renovation. The initial budget came to a few lakhs, but money was not a concern for either Muthaiah or his cousins, who hail from the rich merchant families of the Nattukottai Chettiars. Rather, they bickered over who would supervise the renovation and maintain it post repair. After two years of squabbling, Muthaiah, 58, decided to do the honours himself. It took him six months to revive the mansion, and the work done is for everyone to see.

Old Ravi Varma paintings and a grandfather clock stand sentinel over the mansion's huge Burma teakwood door, which leads to a massive courtyard dotted with rooms on either side. The clock chimes as we enter the courtyard. A peacock perched on the steel rods above the courtyard squawks, and a few pigeons fly around. As our gaze follows the pigeons in flight, we get a peek into another part of the house. This one has two courtyards, followed by a dining hall and a long kitchen with stoves made of clay. The kitchen opens to yet another small courtyard, and then a massive garden with tamarind and mango trees. Muthaiah's mansion is among the few restored mansions in Devakottai. His cousins pay him monthly for its upkeep.