"Fortune Seekers: A Business History of Nattukottai Chettiars" is an enchanting story of how a Tamil business community rose from its humble origins to dominate the business sector in the 19th century. The book captures the rise of the community in Southeast Asian commerce, from the 1800s to the late 1900s. Raman Mahadevan chronicles the business communities before colonialism and how the world wars brought about a decline in the business fortunes of the community.
As the book's title, "Fortune Seekers," suggests, the author maintains this focus throughout the writing, highlighting the factors that contributed to their fortunes from their heyday with the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 to the Great Depression of the 1920s. Raman Mahadevan writes on Chettiars and their business prospects in line with Penguin India’s multi-volume series on the stories of Indian business. This book is the fifth in the series, which has featured four prominent Indian business communities: the Marwaris, Kachchis, Khatris, and Sindhis. While the mantra of most of these business communities has always been "buy low and sell high," this was also the Chettiars’ philosophy.
The book delves in detail into the early history of Chettiars and how the community shifted from trading to indigenous banking. During the medieval period, the community was active as traders both within and outside India. In the first chapter, the author traces the early history of the community, how and why they migrated in 789 BCE from Naganadu, north of Chennai near present-day Kanchipuram, to the Chettinad region in the south, known then as the Pandya kingdom. The community from the northern region moved to Kaveripoompattinam, present-day Poompuhar near Tranquebar, owing to high taxes imposed by the rulers. It was here at Poompuhar, a flourishing seaport due to the Dutch, French, and Portuguese presence, that the Chettiars learned trading and maritime skills. However, again owing to persecution by the Chola kings, they migrated to the Pandya kingdom, present-day Chettinad in the Sivaganga region.
Raman Mahadevan weaves into his writing the trust, combined with risk-taking tendencies and the courage of the community members, and their intra-community banking structure that they developed. This banking structure was the strength of their overseas business.
Raman Mahadevan writes in detail, recalling the several ups and downs in the economy, the invasions in Southeast Asia, and how they led to the rise and fall of the Chettiars. The Chettiars stood apart from other communities and proved successful not just because of their foray in trading and banking skills, but they were resilient because of their intra-caste model. The clans in the community, grouped under nine temples in the 78 villages in Sivaganga and Ramnad district, once monopolized the salt trade.
As a person hailing from this region, I am used to most of the terms that Raman Mahadevan mentions in the book, such as Kittangi, Mahimai, Valavu, mudalali, melal, nadappu, terms used by the Chettiar community in their banking network. At one point in the 1800s, the Chettiar community flourished because of their unity and the joint family system. Like the Marwaris, the joint family system in the Chettiar community can be witnessed with their Valavu and the designated kitchens each of the families had. This was the basic spirit of the community to foster enterprise.
As they migrated from Poompuhar and were well-versed in maritime trade, they slowly began using the Ramanathapuram and Thondi sea routes to sail out and reach Sri Lanka. They traded salt, spices, and pearls. Apart from Colombo, the community had business in Malaysia, Singapore, and went up to Thailand and Cambodia, which Raman Mahadevan tracks meticulously, using the legendary figures and the large business groups from the Nattukottai Chettiar community.
The author brings in many unknown stories and the crises that led to the decline of Chettiar supremacy: the Second World War and the Japanese occupation of most of Southeast Asia from 1942, and how most of the Chettiar groups were reluctant to exit from their traditional occupational sphere. The events in Burma soon after the Second World War had a destabilizing and unnerving effect on the renowned Chettiar spirit, so that a majority of the small and medium Chettiar firms became reluctant to continue in their traditional line of banking business. This community was the one hit by the enormous losses incurred in Burma, as they did not foresee the aftermath of the Japanese occupation. They were reduced to pledging their valuables and even stripping the teak doors from their houses to support their daily living. Called the Nattukottai Chettiars or the Nagarathars – the name commonly used to differentiate them from other Chettiars – the author describes in detail how they soared to great heights and how they eventually went off the radar.
The author profiles a few large Chettiar groups of companies, such as the M.A. Annamalai Chettiar, M.Ct, A.M.M. Chettiar, or the present-day Murugappa Group. These groups managed to repatriate capital well before the Japanese occupation and the Second World War, while most others from the community did not foresee the outcome. He also features others like Karumuthu Thiagaraja Chettiar and A. Nagappa Chettiar, who had weaker business ties but still managed to establish major businesses.
Overall, "Fortune Seekers" gives an in-depth view of the communities' heyday, rise, and decline of business acumen and fortunes, while delving into their culture and lifestyle.
Fortune Seekers: A Business History of Nattukottai Chettiars
Author: Raman Mahadevan
Publisher: Penguin Business
Pages: 235
Price: Rs 599
