CHENNAI: Chettinadu is a treasure trove of heritage, culture and food. While many visit the town to gorge on the lip-smacking delicacies, some marvel at the mansions and the architecture, reminiscent of the British rule and dynasties that reigned here. Photographer Amar Ramesh belongs to the latter category. For the past ten years, Amar has visited the district at least 25 times to capture the entranceways of the Chettinadu mansions. The result of this painstaking effort has now culminated into a coffee table book, Mogappu.
A decade of documenting
An IT engineer-turned-photographer, Amar has documented over 200 doorways of which 108 have made it to the book. “There are many more to collect, and many others are getting demolished,” he says. Mogappu means the front part of the face; in this case, it is the house. “Mogappu means Mugam + Amaippu — Mugamamaippu. In Chettinadu, the houses have a theru kadhavu, thinnai and veetu kadhavu. The entire area is called mogappu. Chettiars called it mopu. I concentrated only on the entrance part of it,” shares Amar, who has been photographing these for almost ten years.
Amar finds Chettinadu a fascinating place as it has many subjects that can inspire an artist. “I have been shooting a lot of pictures and selling them online. In that, I did a mogappu series. I did a couple of exhibitions at India Art Fest and India Photo Fair, too. People were attending but were not able to buy the prints or frames because they were expensive and difficult to carry with them. I wanted a product that they would be able to take along. Although I have had these photos for eight-nine years, the idea (for a book) came to me only two-three months ago,” he says.
Chettinadu chronicles
Whenever Amar visits Chettinadu, he walks around the villages to discover some hidden gems. Often these doors have Gajalakshmi on the mogappu. “Around 60-70% of the house has Gajalakshmi. Chettiars were passionate about wealth and saving the wealth created. They believed that if they have Gajalakshmi, money will stay with them.
The other popular one is Lord Krishna with the cows. Though most Chettiars were Shaivites, some loved Narayana as Krishna. It is also believed that where there is Krishna, there is Lakshmi. Some other houses had British emblems and faces of the king and queen as they wanted to please the British. A few of them had Gandhi and Nehru faces,” he shares about the different styles and colours that are at play on these doorways.
“What is fascinating is where did they learn the colour theory? It’s an amazing combination of colour theory, design aesthetics, typography, art, and sculpture,” he adds.
While there is a lot of awareness of Chettinadu heritage and several conservation activities happening in the district, the mogappus are tough to maintain. “The mansions are huge. To employ someone to keep it clean is an expensive affair. So, many are not maintained, many are being torn down, but some are taken care of,” he notes.
Through his coffee table book, Amar wants people to take pride in the art, culture and design sense our forefathers possessed. He wants Mogappu to serve as an inspiration for designers, builders, and architects and an archival source for the future. Because who knows what lies in the fate of these mansions?
To order, visit: www.amarramesh.com/mogappu, or Instagram: @amarramesh