As I chat with Visalakshi Ramaswamy at the IIC art gallery where she has showcased her 123-year-old ancestral mansion, known as the MRM house in Kanadukathan in Karaikudi, a constant stream of visitors keeps flowing past. Many come forward to congratulate her for the exquisite display of her personal collection of items that define the Chettiyar community. A few ask about the Chettinad region, while some others make trade-related queries. Some even approach to buy things straight off the display shelves!
The grandeur of exhibits at the ongoing exhibition, ‘Chettinad — An enduring legacy’ , which is spread over 2,000 sq. ft, is helping visitors learn about a part of Tamil Nadu that they are perhaps little aware of. This is Visalakshi’s first big exhibition in the capital. “It took me two months to design and prepare and I am happy that people like the artistic journey to understand the lifestyle of our unique community,” she beams.
A brief history of the Nagarathars, a mercantile community from southern Tamil Nadu known for their business skills, is mounted at the entrance of the exhibition that weaves its way through the symbolism of the majestic homes and the significance of nine clan temples of the Chettiars. The community’s love for splendoured architecture and artistry comes alive through photo panels of the Chettinad region that comprises a cluster of 96 villages with opulent mansions.
Visalakshi’s resplendent house with large raised platforms in the front, the open-to-sky courtyards, long surrounding corridors branching out into rooms, huge storerooms and kitchens, courts and halls with chequered marble flooring, miniature paintings and grand chandeliers on the high ceilings, and ornate doors, take visitors back in time.
Corners and walls of the exhibition hall are embellished with antique furniture, sepia-tinted family portraits and expensive artefacts bought during travels over the decades. Kitchen paraphernalia including gigantic copper and brass vessels, storage containers and ingenious everyday kitchen aids, evoke an old world charm and also reveal the resourcefulness of the community.
“In the late 1990s when Chettinad was becoming a series of ghost villages, I was working on the book The Chettiar Heritage, (co-authored by historian S Muthiah and author Meenakshi Meyyappan). Difficult and expensive to maintain, I saw our traditional homes were crumbling and realised that several hobby crafts of the region were disappearing,” she says and adds, “I felt the need to document everything while we still have access to information.”
Visalakshi started the not-for-profit M.Rm.Rm.Cultural Foundation in 2000. This immersive exhibition is a part of it’s activities, which include documentation and revival of lifestyle, crafts, textiles and rituals of the Nattukottai Chettiyars, also referred to as Nagarathars.
There is a separate section on the craft revival and livelihood projects of the foundation. It showcases kottans, the traditional palmyra basketry of Chettinad and the Athangudi tiles, highlighting the creativity and skill that breathed life and colour into Nagarathar homes. There are also kandanghi sarees in bright yellows, oranges, red and black stripes or checks with broad borders, woven in heavy cotton and silk.
The community is shrinking; a majority of those who practise the traditional crafts are octogenarians and many of the heirloom utilitarian items of homes are not in use anymore. Very few people live in the mansions permanently, though they come alive when families go back to their ancestral homes on special occasions.
”It is fascinating to preserve what you have inherited, for the future,” says Visalakshi. “There is no harm in learning new things but we should not lose our heritage, which gives us the identity we are so proud of.”
At Art Gallery, Kamladevi Complex, India International Centre, 40 Max Mueller Marg; Till November 10; 11am to 7pm
