WHERE HAVE THESE GONE/ --II

 

WHERE HAVE THESE GONE? – II

After a degree of drying, further structural addition is done to ‘fix’ the bottom. The fairly dried pot or pitcher or the container is laid inverted over a fairly broad wooden cylinder; the open end is sealed by adding fresh clay on to the wood. Using a wooden hammer, the wet clay tapped to spread it across the width of the vessel.  The edges are carefully hammered to merge the added bottom to the circumference of the vessel. This work is carefully done to achieve complete fusion such that the vessel is not leaky. Once fusion is complete, the vessel is lifted off the wooden base and left to dry in shade.

Curing

All earthen ware require to be ‘hardened so that, the vessel does not dissolve even if soaked water. All dried pots/ pitcher / vessel are carefully kept in a place to cure them thermally. Thermal curing is literally baking the clay product so that it turns hard and does not dissolve in water even if soaked in water for days. All ‘to be cured’ vessels are piled up in a place and are covered by dry grass. Substantial volume of dry grass is heaped over the vessels. The whole hay-laden heap is set on fire. Raging fire engulfs the mass of vessels which are under the heat of burning matter. The heat cures the vessel and makes it hard and brittle.

For well over 10 hours the pots are baked by heat.                                                                                                                    After total baking, the pots are brittle and dry with minute pores on the wall. Water or liquids do not leak off the vessel. But through the fine pores in the pot, general surface seepage releases tiny droplets of water.  This seepage helps in heat shedding by water stored in the earthen vessel. That is why in summer, people prefer to store water in earthen pots and its thermal balancing is quite pleasant and does not drastically lower the temperature. So it offers the best cooling effect and is the most preferred across the nation.

Some buyers prefer pots, surface-painted with red mud. Such mud painted item offers a shiny surface for cosmetic looks. Many people choose to use mud pots for summer. Through summer, these pots offer the most ideal cooling system for potable water.

All said and done earthen pots are viewed as ‘cheap’ items meant for the poor and the down trodden. But, earthen wares are samples of excellent utility. So, items of modest origin do not command social status by virtue of their low cost until some agency comes forward to offer help to such items as of commendable craftsmanship. Thus, seemingly common samples like mud pots have so much of skillful labour in their making and they deserve wider patronage.    Ironically, we rate items by their price tag instead of according value to the craft.           Prof. K. Raman