Karaikudi - Tamil Nadu
Karaikudi and 74 other villages comprise Chettinad, the homeland of the Nattukottai Chettiars, 82 kms from Madurai in Tamil Nadu. The Chettiars were a prosperous banking community who ventured overseas to do business in South and Southeast Asia in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Their legacies are the fascinating sprawling mansions, which are signposts to the architectural heritage of historic Chettinad.
On your trips around the villages, you will also see the grand sculpted temple towers, along with the temple tanks or oornis diligently designed so as to store water in a naturally barren region. The famous temples of the region are the Pillayarpatti and Avudayarkoil, the rich architecture of which reflect the Pandya and Pallava styles.
The crafts of Chettinad occupy a distinct position in South Indian Folklore. Wood carving, hand-made tiles, Silver embellishments, hand woven traditional Kandangi sarees, Palm leaf baskets, gold jewellery and egg plastering from the region are well acclaimed. When you walk along the narrow village streets, you notice the tiled roof homes of the villagers engaged in the various crafts. Here you can buy handmade Athangudi tiles (named after the village where they are made), intricately carved wood work, beautifully sculpted brass and silver ware, handwoven kandangi sarees and baskets woven from date-palm leaves directly from the artisans who bake, sculpt or weave them.
Apart from the houses, Karaikudi offers extensive antique shopping, a village market, a number of temples, and visits to Craftsmen working with wood and metal, silversmiths and goldsmiths, attractive textiles and handmade Athankudi tiles in myriad colours and patterns by a unique process using local soil.
In the antique market, for collectors, there are crystal, ceramics, old pictures, wooden artifacts imported from the UK a century ago, wooden chests from China. End the day with Chettinad Cuisine dinner. |
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