We visit one of the naatukottais to see what drew 21 lakh tourists to Karaikudi last year. As the caretaker turns the key inside the richly ornate door of Burmese teak and pushes the heavy door open, our eyes feast on European chandeliers, Spanish tiles, carved granite pillars, stained glass windows, Belgian mirrors, Italian marble floors, high copper ceiling of intricate designs and the local Athangudi tiles—all of which stand testimony to the successful expeditions of the Chettiars.

Structured around three to four open courtyards—the hallmark of a typical Chettiar house—the architecture marks the transition from a public to a private space, each courtyard diminishing in size as we move indoors; a demarcation based on gendered lines. The outside courtyard, also the largest, is where the patriarch of the family entertains his male guests and the innermost, comprising the kitchen, is the domain of women. A marriage hall, and a banquet hall that can seat upto 100-150 people at a time are other attractions in a Chettiar household.

In some of these houses, the rooms are named after prominent women in the family. As you go to sleep on richly carved wooden bedsteads, soaking in the grandeur of Chettinad architecture on all sides—the colourful patterns in earthly hues painted on the walls, the intricately carved pillars on all four sides, the high ceiling with myriad patters—you fancy yourself as the graceful old women of yore, who may have sat in the innermost courtyard, keeping a watchful eye on the rations in the kitchen and whose trunks of dowry would fill up the many rooms of the mansion.

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