Transient Communities: A Search for Identity through Ethnicity (page 7)

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The Vituti was directed by a board of trustees and employed a manager and staff to provide services for travelling Nakarattars. These services included, in addition to provision of lodging and meals, provision of mailing facilities, making travel arrangements, Clearing baggage at local customshouses, and arranging for absentee prayers at local temples. In short, vitutis were extremely useful in the mobile world of the Nakarattar. Vitutis were normally financed primarily by large gifts or endowments (kattalais) and operating costs were also subscribed through endowment. In addition, every guest paid what amounted to a nominal rent (called makinai, like the Nakarattar religious tithe) fixed by the manager of each Vituti and subject to revision according to need. Thus, many of the redistributive functions were performed by the endowment of temples and temple festivals were performed by the endowment of the closely associated nakaravituti. This housed a shrine dedicated to Lord Dhandayuthapani (lord Muruga) to help traders continue their custom of praying to him before starting a new business Venture or travel abroad and to give a share of their earnings to him in their new place of migration.

The second Viduthi to be built was the Karaikudi Nagarathar Viduthi, run by the Pudhiya (new) Dhandayuthabani Trust. This also housed a shrine dedicated to lord Dhandayuthapani. After the opening of Madras harbour in the 1880s, one finds separate Madras Vitutis built by Nakarattars of Devakottai and Karaikudi. Nakarattars who did business in Burma constructed the Rangoon nakara Vituthi there. This was the third Nagaraviduthi at coral merchant street, also called as Kasi Nagarathar Viduthi. The Cities and countries where all of these Vitutis were located served as major markets for the groups who built the Vitutis.
(Continues...)

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