WHY ARE WE KNOWN AS NATTUKOTTAI CHETTIARS AND NAGARATHARS ?

Nattukottai Chettiar refers to our affluence which dates from the beginning of the 20^th Century when our financial operations overseas proved great success. Those Chettiars who amassed huge fortunes as result of their business enterprise in Burma built huge homes, more or less mansions indigenous in style, in their ancestral villages. Hence the name "Nattu – Kottai" for these mansions, which literally mean "country forts".

The other name Nagarathars simply means those who belong to a trading community.