Photograph of a Chettiar man taken at a studio

The region of Chettinad in the Southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu is the region of origin of the Chettiar community. The Nagarattar Chettiars are among the early Indian migrants to the Southeast Asian region with business establishments in Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia and Singapore. Their migration and establishment of money lending business in Singapore-Malaya in particular can be traced back to the early 18th century onwards. This is a group of two photographs of traditional Chettiars from the family of Meyyappan Chettiar.