Famous for the scintillating cuisine, affluent cultural heritage, splendorous temples and plenteous architectural marvels, Chettinad of Southern Tamil Nadu is a uniquely exceptional place to spend a holiday with your loved ones. Chettinad used to be the home to the Chettiar community who was great businessmen and traders that travelled across the country and the world.
Anyone visiting the place might feel a little let down seeing the arid and unimpressive landscapes of the place, however, Chettinad, very much like its cuisine, is understood best when encountered closely. A walk through the streets will start to change your opinion of Chettinad for years to come and you will definitely talk to your friends and families about the wonders that this place has up its sleeves to offer.
The magnificent Chettinad mansions will be the first thing to leave you gasping for breath and you will find yourself dropping your jaw more times than you would care to count. Thought the colossal structures will scare you, enter the house, you will find yourself stepping into another world altogether. With intricate carvings and artworks on the huge front doors, the massive pillars and even on the walls and ceilings, you will wonder about the liking of the Chettiars towards art and craft. The large rooms, halls and open yards inside the house will never cease to surprise you.
The clan temples of the community will also provide a treat to your eyes, the carvings of several deities of the Hindu mythology, and several events from the Indian epics can also be seen at the temples.
Another important place that anyone holidaying in Chettinad must visit is the Koviloor Aadheenam, which is renowned for the Koviloor Mutt there. The Mutt is only two kilometers away from the center of Chettinad. The Mutt is historically important to Tamil Nadu as it is the first Mutt that translated the text of Vedanta into the language of Tamil. Incepted by Shri. Mukthiramalinga Gnana Desika Swamigal during the 18th century, the Mutt is an important cultural memoir for not only just Chettinad but for all of Tamil Nadu.
He also laid the stone structure for the temple on Koviloor and the temple would later go on to become famous by the name Sri Kotravaleeswarar. The temple is centered by four Mutt streets that surround the temple. There is a mandapam, near a tank called Madhu Puskarani, and it stays on the Eastern side of the temple and is a great place to spend some time at for the people visiting the temple and the Mutt. The tank is always filled with water even during the hot summer that sweeps the village of Chettinad.
Every element of Chettinad offers a unique sense of beauty and art, and most visitors who come to Chettinad leave the place with the hope of coming back to Chettinad again. The magnificent mansions, soothing temple atmosphere and the luring cuisine are more than enough to lure the visitors back to Chettinad once again.