[GeneralJazz]

Prologue

It had been quite a while since our previous trip, and we were really itching to get out again. January provided a couple of long weekends courtesy of Pongal and Republic Day, and we chose the latter. Picking the destination was always going to be a challenge. The long weekends meant popular spots would be crowded beyond capacity, and we were in no mind to spend hours in traffic burning our clutch. The now infamous "Masinagudi vazhi Ooty" video and the ensuing troll videos about the serpentine line of vehicles made us quickly rule out all such destinations.

With no destination in mind, and the Jan 26th weekend soon approaching, I was running out of time to decide. During the long Pongal weekend, we were lazily scrolling through Swiggy for dinner ideas when something caught my eye – Chettinad Biriyani. It was a name we had seen hundreds of times before, and we really love the dish as well. This got me thinking, where or what exactly is Chettinad? A Google search returned images of large, beautiful manors and rustic hamlets. A few minutes on Google Maps showed that Karaikudi, Athangudi, and Kanadukathan, some of the most popular towns in the Chettinad regions, were less than 300 kms from Coimbatore. The more we looked at the pictures of the mansions, the more we fell in love with the destination. Quickly fired up multiple tabs on the browser and loaded up Makemytrip, Goibibo, Agoda, Booking.com, and a bunch of others. After some research, found a great place and made the booking.

Thanjavur was close to Karaikudi, so we planned to spend a night there to check out the temple and the palace. Quickly made a booking for that too. With that, the destinations were picked, and the countdown started!


Locations

We visited the following places:

Karaikudi:

1. Athangudi Palace
2. Athangudi tile factories
3. Chettinad Mansions
4. Karaikudi antique market
5. Chettinad Palace
6. Karaikudi handlooms
7. Thirumayam Fort

Thanjavur:

1. Thanjavur Palace
2. Thanjavur Periya Kovil (Brihadeeshwarar Temple)


Route

From Coimbatore, we drove to Karaikudi via Oddanchatram, Dindukkal. We drove to Thanjavur from Karaikudi via Pudukottai, and then back to Coimbatore via Thiruchirapalli, Karur, Palladam. 700kms in total.




The Stays:

Chettinad Manor, Athangudi




Hotel Aalia, Thanjavur




The Ride

Of course, Tiberium wasn't going to miss out on the trip! I also had a chance to properly test out the recent project lamps upgrade.

[GeneralJazz]

Athangudi

Athangudi is one of the villages in the area, most notably known for its beautiful, handcrafted artistic tiles. The village is home to numerous tile-making shops and several mansions. As we drove through the village, what immediately captured our attention was its meticulous planning. Despite the narrow roads, the village had straight parallel roads with criss-crossing interconnections.


Athangudi Palace

Athangudi Palace, also known as Letchimi Vilas or Periya Veedu, was constructed in 1932 by Nachiappa Chettiar. The palace features materials sourced from various locations, including Burmese teak, European fittings, and, notably, locally made Athangudi tiles. Currently, the grand mansion is maintained by the descendants of the original owners.

Upon reaching the location and stepping out into the blazing sun, the first thing that caught our eye was the beautifully decorated outer walls of the mansion. The facade contains intricate carvings and figures, and we spent several minutes marvelling at the architectural beauty.

Inside, we purchased tickets to explore the mansion. Though there was a receipt book, we weren't given any, and the women at the counter provided different GPay numbers to different visitors. Foreigners were charged exorbitantly, as expected. The main door, made of Burmese teak, is intricately inscribed.

The main hall is adorned with beautifully crafted lion figures on each pillar. Both the floor and the ceiling are laid out with tiles, creating eye-catching patterns. A large central courtyard is surrounded by numerous rooms. It's apparent that the mansion was built with a lot of care, love, and, of course, a boat load of money. The level of cleanliness and maintenance is commendable, and it's noteworthy that this mansion still stands tall while many other manors in the area are in various states of ruin.
















Athangudi Tiles

As we aimlessly drove around the village, we noticed several tile-making places scattered throughout. We decided to stop at one of them, and the staff there graciously showed us around. They provided a detailed explanation of the tile-making process, starting from the glass base, pattern mould, layers of pigments, and cement. Once the cement dried, the tiles were placed in a water tank for it to set. The ladies making the tiles even allowed my wife to try out the process! The yard was filled with stacks of tiles featuring various patterns. Thoroughly impressed by the designs, we ended up purchasing a few sets. Now, all that's left is to figure out where to place them in our apartment—perhaps as table decorations, or frame them on the wall? We're open to ideas!

[GeneralJazz]

Kanadukaathan

Kanadukathan is a small town in the region, located only a few kilometers from Athangudi. We drove there to explore more mansions in the area. As we navigated through the town, we were once again amazed by the meticulous planning—arrow-straight streets everywhere!

VVR House

This is one of the oldest mansions in the area, well over 150 years old! It's currently in a very sorry state and is being taken care of by an elderly couple. The paatti and thatha showed us around. The front door is a masterpiece in itself, standing out among the generally abandoned vibes of the place. It's a 200-year-old Burmese teak door with intricate carvings depicting scenes from the Ramayanam. The rest of the manor is built in the typical Chettinad style, featuring a large hall, a central courtyard with the kitchen leading to an exit onto the opposite street. Even though the mansion is well past its prime days, I believe it can be brought back into glory with some hard work, and of course, a ton of money.

Though they didn't ask for anything, we did give some money to the elderly couple. My wife even wrote down some prescription medicines for the couple as they were complaining of aches and sores.

By the way, did you notice the statue of people in Western costumes on the front facade? We found it on many mansions in the area. Perhaps an influence of their close relationship with the British?

















SASRM House

This one is located right next to the VVR House and was in much better condition. It was managed by a couple of women who claimed to be related to the owners. They were demanding money quite rudely before we even had a chance to take off our shoes. That, along with a bunch of strict rules—such as the visit being limited to 20 minutes, no videos, no selfie sticks/tripods—left a sour taste. However, the elegance of the mansion more than made up for it. The main door was Burmese teak and had beautiful carvings. The central hall was bathed in a splendid display of colors, thanks to the stained glass windows all around. The upstairs was open too.

[GeneralJazz]

Chettinad Palace

Chettinad Palace, also known as Athangudi Palace, is a huge mansion in Athangudi. It was built by Annamalai Chettiar in 1912, making it well over 100 years old. It's inaccessible without special permission from the family living in Chennai, as we were informed by the guard. However, we could still view it from the outside and drive around it. Several rooms had split AC units outside, suggesting it might still be occupied. Despite the limited view from the outside, it was still a spectacular sight indeed!















Other Mansions

There are several other mansions scattered all over Athangudi, and we spent a long time driving through the narrow lanes, admiring them. They were in different stages of disrepair, ranging from well-maintained to reasonably maintained, to dilapidation, to it-belongs-to-mother-earth-now. Some of them were still occupied, but we couldn't help but wonder what the owners would do with their cars and bikes, given that most of these mansions were built before the dawn of automobiles. It was a strange feeling, as if we had driven into the previous century. It made us feel like Marty McFly, driving the DeLorean into the past! We could almost imagine how the place would have been in its prime, bustling with life and laughter—the Malabar Hill, or the Indira Nagar of the region, if you will.
























Chettinad Handlooms

Handloom products from Karaikudi are quite well-known, so we stopped here to check the place out. Inside the shed, they were hard at work weaving all sorts of stuff, from sarees to veshtis to lungis. They were kind enough to give us a demo of how the instrument worked, which looked scary complicated! We could see the spindle shooting across with each movement of the loom, reminding me of the movie "Wanted," where the protagonist was tasked with catching it as it moved. They showed us how they wound thread into it by covering some holes and blowing air through some other holes. They also explained how it worked, like how pulling one rope would move that thingamabob, which would in turn move some pulley, which in turn would move some other doohickey and so on—things that went well over our heads. We did end up buying some handloom products, which we felt were reasonably priced after a bit of bargaining.

[GeneralJazz]

Karaikudi

Karaikudi, the largest city in the Sivaganga district, is a part of the region known as Chettinad. The Nagarathar, or Naatukottai Chettiars, are a caste involved in banking and money lending, and they migrated to the area in the 19th century. Some accounts suggest their origin and development under the Chola empire, while others claim they fled persecution under the Cholas and were welcomed by the Pandiya kingdom. The modern Chettiars are believed to have significantly increased their wealth and influence in the 19th century, thanks to their close relationship with the British.

They also migrated to various parts of Southeast Asia, including Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Singapore. In fact, during our trip to Malaysia in 2022, our driver, a third-generation Malaysian Tamil, shared that his family originally hailed from Chettinad and still owned a mansion there.The Southeast Asian influence is quite evident here, with many mansions featuring lion statues closely resembling those found in that region, characterized by large faces with huge eyes, and more. Also, a number of mansions are constructed using materials brought from British Burma. These mansions are now close to 200 years old.

There are several famous personalities hailing from the region, including Alagappa Chettiar, who founded Alagappa University, and Annamalai Chettiar, renowned as the founder of Indian Bank and Annamalai University. Annamalai Chettiar is also the grandfather of former Indian Finance Minister P. Chidambaram.


Karaikudi Antique Market

The Karaikudi Antique Market on Muneeshwaran Kovil Street is quite popular among antique collectors. My mom, a huge fan of antiques, was thrilled when we told her we would be visiting the place. However, as soon as we stepped into the first shop, we realized that everything was ridiculously expensive! For example, a small-sized antique chest was quoted at an eye-watering 15k, although the eye-watering could very well have been due to the dust and varnish. Prices vary wildly between the stores, and you need to spend a lot of time here to get the best price.

Many of the items seemed like junk; we even saw old jam bottles selling for 2k for a set. I guess there are collectors for those as well. There were pillars, similar to the ones we saw in the mansions, of different sizes and shapes (for decorative purposes only, not load-bearing), statues in various levels of ruination, cupboards, shelves, trays, cups, mugs, and all sorts of stuff you find in a regular house. It's almost as if people broke into old abandoned manors and made away with whatever they could carry.

Walking down an entire lane devoted to antiques makes you feel as if you were transported into a different century. Electric scooters zipping through the street quickly brought us back to the present. In many of the shops, we found old black and white pictures and photos of past residents of the town. The shopkeepers had ripped the pictures out of the frames and were selling the frames separately. At one shop, we felt really bad when we saw the keeper scooping dirt and junk with what seemed like an old family photo. It might have been a precious memory to someone, but now it's just a dust scoop.















These old tins are sure to bring a wave of nostalgia. You know you're old if you can recognize these!









Chettinad (Athangudi) Railway Station

We stopped here on the way to Karaikudi, just for the pics! CTND connects with Thiruchi and serves as a stop for trains to Ramanathapuram (Rameshwaram).

[GeneralJazz]

Nemathanpatti

Chettinad Manor

Chettinad Manor Heritage Hotel, located in Nemathanpatti, was our stay for the night. Tracing its origin all the way back to 1890, it's a fully restored mansion. There is no separate parking space, but since there are no other busy points nearby, we could easily park by the road nearby. The staff were super friendly and helped us with our bags. We were allotted a room in a recently refurbished wing of the manor. Though the section was beautifully done, it was still a bit rough around the edges.

It was evening by the time we checked in, and our room was illuminated in a brilliant golden glow thanks to the stained glass windows. Dinner wasn't available that night; instead, the manager suggested a few good restaurants in Karaikudi we could try out.

Our car key looks comically small next to the ridiculous door key!











By the time we returned from Karaikudi, all the lights had been turned on in the mansion, making it all the more charming! The yellow lights complemented the wall colors beautifully, making the whole mansion even more lovely!

[GeneralJazz]

Thirumayam

Thirumayam Fort

Thirumayam Fort is a small fort located on the Karaikudi-Pudukottai highway. It was constructed in 1687 by Vijayaraghunatha Sethupathi I of the Ramanad Kingdom. The Ramanad Kingdom existed in the region and was ruled by the Sethupathis. According to legend, the Sethupathis, meaning "guardians of the bridge," were assigned by Lord Raman to guard the bridge while he was away in Lanka, and their descendants have retained that name. The fort played a significant role in the Polygar wars between the Polygars (Palaiyakkarars) of Thirunelveli and the British. After their defeat, they were reduced to zamindars and later integrated into newly independent India. The later Sethupathis have an interesting relationship with the Chettiars. There's a lot of intriguing history here for those who want to dig around.

The fort seemed to be constructed in a pattern of concentric circles, and we had a bit of difficulty spotting the entrance. ASI now maintains the place and has done a great job. The whole area is very clean and well-preserved. It's a bit of a climb to reach the top. We saw a few precariously balanced boulders, which reminded us of Krishna's Butterball rock we saw in Mahabalipuram. At the top was a defensive bastion with a cannon, which I read was of British origin. We got an excellent view of the Thirumayam town and the surrounding farmlands from the top!

[GeneralJazz]

Thanjavur

Thanjavur Palace

The Thanjavur Maratha Palace was built by the Nayaks around 1550 and later expanded by the Thanjavur Marathas. Marathas, you say? What were the Marathas doing this far south, you might wonder. Well, there's an interesting bit of history here. After the fall of the Chola kingdom, Thanjavur went to the Pandyas, followed by a fair bit of squabbling and scuffling with the occasional back-stabbing. Finally, someone invited the Bijapur Sultan to help him get the throne. The Sultan sent his Maratha general Venkoji to capture Thanjavur, who defeated the local ruler and promptly made himself the king, thus beginning the Maratha rule in Thanjavur. Venkoji, aka Vyankoji Bhosale, was, in fact, a younger half-brother to none other than Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj himself. After the death of the last Thanjavur Maratha king, Raja Shivaji of Thanjavur, the kingdom fell into the hands of the British.

The Thanjavur Palace is located within the Periya Kottai complex. The palace complex consists of the Sadar Mahal Palace, which contains the Raja Serfoji Memorial Hall and the Royal Palace Museum, the queen's courtyard, and the Durbar Hall. The Saraswathi Mahal Library, as well as the Bell tower, is also located here.


Saraswathi Mahal Library

Thanjavur Maharaja Serfoji's Saraswathi Mahal Library is one of the oldest libraries in Asia. It has an excellent collection of palm leaf manuscripts written in Tamil, Sanskrit, as well as other olden languages in Devanagari and Brahmi scripts. The library also houses a large collection of books, manuscripts, dictionaries, and medical texts. Just outside the library is a small theatre that has a video show at regular intervals. It's about a 30-minute video about the history of Thanjavur. It was close to the 3:30 PM show when we arrived, so we proceeded to join the queue. Pretty soon, it became a mad crowd with pushing, shoving, and yelling, making us question our decision to stand in line. The disorderly crowd somehow managed to squeeze through the door without trampling the guard. The show was quite interesting, though we could see that quite a lot of people had fallen asleep!






Art Gallery

The art gallery contains an impressive collection of sculptures of different deities, as well as coins and other artifacts.











Gooda Gopuram

The Gooda Gopuram, or the Arsenal Tower, was used as a watchtower and arms storage facility by the Marathas.









Bell Tower

The bell tower is around 7 stories tall and once used to have a mechanical bell. Originally the Bell Tower used for announcing the time by blowing of conch shells. It isn't open to the public.






Queen's Courtyard

The central courtyard also has display areas with a decent collection of artifacts.











Raja Serfoji Memorial Hall

On display are household articles, costumes, gold and silverware, armouries, earthenware, manuscripts, wooden and ivory objects, various kinds of paintings like oil, watercolour, and so on.















Durbar Hall

The Maratha Durbar Hall is a large hall with a courtyard used for official court by the Marathas. There was extensive renovation work going on in and around the courtyard, and several areas were sealed off. While it was good that some maintenance is being carried out, we noticed that the workers weren't being really careful; several old pillars and carvings had been damaged and discarded nearby. The main hall itself was in utter disrepair. Vandals had managed to etch their names onto every available square cm of the place, including pillars, walls, sculptures, and even the wall paintings! Even wall plaster had been chipped away! There were wall paintings of the various Maratha rulers, but they were all fading into oblivion, helped along by the vandals.

The walls and ceiling contain sculptures and carvings of various deities. I really hope it will be restored to some semblance of its past glory.

[GeneralJazz]

Brihadeeshwarar Temple

Also called Thanjai Periya Kovil, it was constructed by Rajaraja Chola around 1010, making it over a thousand years old! It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a brilliant example of Tamil architecture. The main temple and the gopurams were built by the Cholas, while further additions were made by later rulers. The walls are covered in inscriptions from different eras. The huge central vimanam is made of sculptures of deities in breathtaking detail!

We arrived early, around 6 AM, but it was quite crowded even at that time. We dropped our footwear in a designated area and then proceeded to explore the rest of the magnificent temple. The rising sun bathed the majestic structure in an alluring golden glow, accentuating the intricate carvings. We took our time walking around the ground and enjoying the breathtaking sight! The level of detail in every single nook and cranny of the complex is simply amazing indeed! The cool morning breeze along with the golden morning light made it as close to magical as possible!

We might have taken around 2 rounds of the ground before we realized it! We only decided to leave since it was getting quite crowded, and also our tummies started to protest. It did take an effort to tear our eyes from this ancient wonder and make our way back to the parking lot.

[GeneralJazz]

Food, Grub, Chow, Meals.....

Oddanchathram

Hotel Apoorva

Its located on the Oddanchathram bypass and we stopped for breakfast and bio break, on the way to Karaikudi. It was super crowded, had limited seating, and the staff weren't the most pleasant. Food was delicious though. Would have rated it higher, but the Annapoornas and Anandhas of Coimbatore has really spoiled us!

Cuisine: South Indian
Dishes we tried: Dosha, Vada
Rating: 7/10

Athangudi

Sri Rangavilas Mess

A very small hotel located close to the main road. Though quite modest looking from the outside, the food was brilliant! The poriyals were awesome, and the fish was crispy and spicy, a chettinad style meal.

Cuisine: South Indian
Dishes we tried: Meals, fish fry
Rating: 7.5/10

Karaikudi

Karaikudi Kitchen

This place was suggested to us by the manager of our stay. Loved the ambience and the food, especially the mutton dishes. Apparently this region is famous for them! We also got the try the kari dosa for the first time, and we loved it. We really have to try the Madurai kari dosa next!

Cuisine: Multi Cuisine
Dishes we tried: Mutton kari dosa, Mutton elai porotta, Mutton dry fry
Rating: 8/10

Chettinad Manor

Breakfast provided in our stay. Even though it looks basic, it was quite tasty, especially the pongal. Made in the local cuisine style, we loved how the sambar tasted quite different to what we are used to (Coimbatore sambar is quite similar to Kerala style). There were even some sweet fritters available.

Cuisine: Traditional Chettinad South Indian
Dishes we tried: Idli, Pongal, sambar, fritters
Rating: 7.5/10

Thanjavur

Hotel Sathar

It's one of the oldest restaurants in Thanjavur, and we went there with some expectations. However, we were quite disappointed. We ordered mutton soup, which was very tasty, but the biriyani was a total letdown. It was very dry and had only a small piece of chicken. Would not recommend.

Cuisine: Multi Cuisine
Dishes we tried: Mutton soup, chicken biriyani, chilli chicken
Rating: 6.5/10








Madurai Hanifa Jigarthanda

Located next to the Sathar Hotel, we ordered a couple of Jigarthandas, and we absolutely loved it!

Cuisine: Desserts, juices
Dishes we tried: Special Jigarthanda, mini Jigarthanda
Rating: 7.5/10








Naser Idiyappa

This one was located close to our hotel. Idiyappam or nool puttu is one of my favourite dishes back home, and I was looking forward to having it here. And boy, was it delicious! The idiyappams were soft, steamy, and fluffy. I've heard a lot about mutton paya, and finally got a chance to try it, and it was fantastic as well.

Cuisine: South Indian/Chettinad
Dishes we tried: Idiyappam, porotta, mutton paya, chicken fry
Rating: 8/10










Anpu Pal Nilaiyam

After the delicious dinner, we were walking back towards our room when we stopped here for something to drink. We tried badam milk and lassi, both of which were awesome! Both the drinks had a thick layer of cream on top and weren't overly sweet.

Cuisine: Milk based drinks
Dishes we tried: Badam Milk, Lassi
Rating: 8.5/10








Adyar Ananda Bhavan

Our hotel did not have an in-house kitchen, and they gave us an option to either get a breakfast kit from the nearby A2B or partially refund the breakfast bill if we were to eat somewhere outside. We chose the former as it would be more convenient. Since there was an A2B branch nearby, we got the food still hot. It was as tasty as expected of an A2B meal. No complaints here.

Cuisine: Indian
Dishes we tried: Dosa, pongal, vada, rava kesari
Rating: 7/10

Karur/Thennilai

Adyar Ananda Bhavan

We stopped here for lunch on the way back to Coimbatore. As expected, the food was delicious, naans were crispy, and paneer was soft and yummy. The rasmalai to top it off was excellent too!

Cuisine: Indian
Dishes we tried: Butter naan, chilly paneer, rasmalai
Rating: 7/10

[GeneralJazz]

Tiberium

A 750-kilometer round trip on the brilliant, wide-open TN highways; I believe our Rapid had way more fun on this journey than we did! From navigating through rough village roads to cruising at *redacted* speeds all day long, Tiberium never once lost her footing. The new headlamps lit up the tiny village roads even at the dead of night!

Conclusion

Total Number of days: 2.5
Total Distance covered: 740 km
Total Fuel consumed: 44L approx


This was a much-needed break for us, a drive into the past. We loved the experience of driving through interior Tamil Nadu. The roads remained excellent as always. That's one thing severely lacking in Kerala. So many beautiful places to see, badly let down by the hopeless road infrastructure. We were able to cover the 260kms to Athangudi in around 4.5 hours. A similar distance in Kerala would easily take 8 hours. Good road connectivity can really boost tourism, even to the remotest locations.

The drive was just as enjoyable too. Along the way, we could see devotees carrying the kavadi attire, since we happened to travel on the day of Thaipoosam, a festival devoted to Lord Murugan. We really hope to see the Thaipoosa Kavadi one day. In Kerala, we have something similar, the Pookavadiyattam, dedicated to Lord Subramanian, and we had seen it many times in our childhood. It was also around Jallikattu season, as we could see several bulls being transported on lorries, along with guys in matching team outfits.

As we settled back into our routine, I couldn't help but reminisce about the trip. We had made plans to see as much of Tamil Nadu as we could, and with this, two of the long-pending checkboxes were ticked off. Our location map for TN is quickly getting filled up, with two large empty spots. The capital Madraspattanam, and the heart of TN, the Kovil Nagaram, Madurai.


Until next time, this is GeneralJazz signing off.......

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[chandrda]

Excellent Thread and very Detailed. Amazing photos of not only the Mansion and palaces, but the Food as well.

Though I had heard of these Mansions but never planned to visit them. My visit were limited to Brihadeeshwarar Temple. But looks like they are worth visiting.

The food looks yummy and thanks for narrowing down the restaurants.

Were the protinex, lactogen and Danish cookies can on sale as well, as an antique?

Regards

[batterylow]

You guys have wheels on your heels I tell you!!!

The pictures paint a colorful story and the delectable food pics are the cherries on the top.

Keep traveling and keep the kilometers ticking!!!

Originally Posted by GeneralJazz

We were able to cover the 260kms to Athangudi in around 4.5 hours. A similar distance in Kerala would easily take 8 hours. Good road connectivity can really boost tourism, even to the remotest locations.

8 hours if Moorad Palam permits.

[OffRoadFun]

Amazing. A treat to the eyes!
Thanks for sharing. Your attention to the details is evident.