WHERE HAVE THESE GONE?

 

WHERE HAVE THESE GONE?

As a nation we have witnessed several changes, some by improvement, some by reorganizing, some by drastic change of design while some have been nearly displaced by more modern products. Of the last category, two things that hold attention are the coarse grass mat and the earthen pot. The former has been substituted by the plastic fibre stuff and the latter by stainless steel utensils. But, neither has satisfied the needs of our geographic zone especially through summer. The plastic floor mat is more an irritant than any soothing through the hot stuffy summer nights. Equally repulsive is the thought of trying to quench thirst by taking water from a stainless steel vessel on a scorching summer after noon. These machine-churned products are omnipresent by their sheer numbers, since the earthen pots and the grass mats are hand-made and low in production rate. Hand crafted furniture, products from natural fibre and cooking vessels of earthenware are low in number but high in desirability. They retain ideal temperature through best part of the day or night and confer some degree of pleasant taste on to the item stored therein.

Crafting of earthen ware  

Earthen wares require patient schedules of careful crafting. The production of such items is a multistep process by itself. Being hand-made, these are items of dexterous creation by trained hands which literally play wonders. It should be amply clear that there are no pre-formed frames for size or shape; the size and shape are determined by the artisans who go by a working logic based on the quantum of raw material taken for a piece.  It all begins from raw clay. Huge chunks of clay are taken from select locales on earth. That is why such items carry prestigious tags of their origin as ‘Maanamadurai pot’. Honestly such items richly deserve Geographic index tag. A lot depends on the quality of clay chosen. Besides, certain percussion instruments like “Ghatam” demand accurate choice of material and precise schedules of making to sustain tonal qualities typical for such gadgets in music.

Chosen earth is pounded by heavy objects like hammer to reduce it to near powder so as to easily sift and remove any gritty matter. All other debris is also removed as such contaminants would hinder the quality of final products. Such powdered clay is heaped in a place and water is added. Clay absorbs water and retains it for long due to its cohesive bondage. Wet clay is crushed by human weight by stamping of feet. Several rounds of compressing the clay make it attain a paste like consistency -a state amenable for craftsmanship. Fortunately, the clay paste stays wet for days on end and at best may require some little wetting at a later point of time.   Such sticky clay mass is handled by craftsmen to make vessels of varied description.

Shaping the clay

For most utensils of earthen ware, a cartwheel laid horizontal on ground is used as a rotor. Of course it ought to be of a convenient dimension and weight to hand-mobilize it to make fairly brisk circular rotations on its axis. The artisan takes a lump of clay [ at the start of the day’s work] and offers prayer to Sun god before placing the lump on the ccntre of the wheel and turns it anti-clock wise  to start its  rotation. When it reaches a certain momentum, the man plunges his hand into the lump and exerts pressure. The clay under hand pressure while on a rotor, raises like a wall on all sides, forming a hollow inside. Apparently, it looks easy ; but calls for precision of all parameters, quantum of clay in right consistency, just enough pressure to make the correct shape and of course the wheel ought to be kept moving in right pace. When all these occur in right sequence, a lump of clay assumes a typical shape of a pot or pitcher, as yet incomplete. The object moving in a circular track is  comfortably shaped by applying pressure at different zones of the expanding ‘container’. Upon the stuff attaining the required height a little of clay is added to the rim and gently held under slight pressure to form a collar-like extension. Any ‘disobeying’ segments of the vessel are tamed by wet fingers which gently tap the wet vessel to appropriate surface free of blemish. Once the required size, shape, surface are formed, the vessel under making has to be taken off the wheel. It is done by rotating the wheel and inserting a tautly held thin wet thread which severs the vessel from its parent clay still on the wheel. Such a wet ‘bottomless’ pot is left [to dry to some extent] in shade upside down.

To continue                         Prof. K. Raman