Nattukottai Chettiar

#incredibleindia #theindianquest #nattukottai #chettiyars #bankers #mercantile #burma #ricemills #chettinad #trade #commerce #community #tamilnadu

Chettinad Chicken may be our favorite dish but there is more to Chettinad Chicken. Chettinad or the land of Chetti or Chettiyars comprises of Ramnad, Sivagangai, Pudukkottai. Chettiyar is derived from the Sanskrit word 'Shreshthi'. Chettiyars are a Vaisya mercantile community existing since the days of Chola empire. They became mainly famous and prominent for playing the main role of bankers in Burma and the only prominent link to international banking with Burma. They were the biggest investors in converting Burma as the 'rice bowl' for the Western world. The reason of success for the entire community lies in the fact that when rest of India was holding to joint family system after marriage, Chettiyars believed in making the son separate after marriage so that he can run his own family by being self reliant and yet be a part of joint family commerce.

In Burma, the Chettiyars were mainly concentrated in Rangoon around the Murugan temple which they built in 1859. The concentration of Chettiyar offices was so thick there that it was known as Chettiyar Exchange. By 1930, there were 1650 Chettiyar lenders. But their business was taken away in 1960 after Burma had military rule.The glorious Chettinad mansions in Tamilnadu speaks volume about the prosperity of the community with establishment of universities like Annamalai University in Chidambaram.