Inside India's 15,000 extravagant, abandoned mansions, built by spice and gem tycoons and left to decay

• There are more than 15,000 elaborate mansions that are mostly decaying in a small region called Chettinad in southern India.
• The average mansion in the region spans 40,000 to 50,000 square feet and has more than 50 rooms.
• Now the quiet streets are lined with dilapidated mansions that many owners can barely afford to maintain.

In Chettinad, a region covering about 600 square miles in southern India, there are more than 15,000 mansions that are, for the most part, in differing states of decay.