Meenu Subbiah, a luxury designer jewellery brand from Chennai, rooted in Chettinad heritage and celebrated for its rare in-house craftsmanship, will be opening India’s first private museum on Chettinad Jewellery in Karakudi.

Introducing “Pettagam”

 In the quiet lanes of Karaikudi, which is undeniably the cultural and architectural heart of the Chettinad region, a new landmark is unveiled: a first-of-its-kind private museum on the Chettinad Jewellery. Every Chettiar (the business community in Tamil Nadu) home is said to have a “Pettagam”, a traditional wooden chest or strongbox used to store the family’s valuables. Karaikudi will now have a “Pettagam” that has been born of a dream to immortalize the glittering legacy of Chettinad Jewellery.

History tell us that the Nagarathars or Chettiars were fearless traders who crossed the oceans in pursuit of opportunity. And while doing so, they brought the world back home with them. The Nagarathars’ influence across the oceans was so widespread, that they were even specially invited to Queen Victoria’s coronation. Consequently, from weaving European flavours into their cuisine to incorporating Art Deco elegance into their jewellery, the Nagarathars blended global influences into their rich traditions. Rooted in this legacy, Pettagam unfolds as a space that celebrates the global journey of the Nagarathars and how echoes of the past come alive in the Chettinad aesthetic of today.

As you step into the Pettagam…

By booking in advance, guests step into an experience designed with care and inventiveness. Spread across two floors, Pettagam takes the visitor through a multi-media journey showcasing the quintessence of Chettinad jewellery. The journey begins by tracing the origins of Chettinad jewellery, its regional motifs, and craftsmanship that has evolved over five generations. A quiet theatre follows where the lights dim and a 15-minute film draws visitors into the world of diamonds, intricate designs, and the hum of skilled hands practicing age-old techniques. Pettagam spotlights the dying art of traditional close setting, a meticulous technique used in less than 10% of traditional jewellery worldwide.

The second floor showcases three distinct genres of jewellery. Here, classic kandacharams, poocharams, and mullaicharams from Chettinad are juxtaposed with exquisite adaptations of the rich Kasumala of Kerala, the attractive Arakku temple jewellery of the Chola and Pandya kings, the intricate Jali wrist adornments from the Mughal era and the opulent Kundan necklaces from the royal courts of Rajasthan. And then there is jewellery that makes seemingly impossible demands on the technology used to create it—in this section of the museum, modernity takes over.

Pettagam is more than just a museum, it is a living archive of Chettinad’s rich and layered jewellery heritage.