MANAMADURAI

 MANAMADURAI

 Another tiny town is Manamadurai on the southern part of TN ,on the route to Rameswaram. People may arch their eye-brows up asking “why Manamadurai”?  My respoinse would be ‘Why not”?

Certainly, the place has a pride about it. Before , explaining it , let us consider these points. Even the river Kaveri does not bisect the town Trichy , though it intervenes between Trichy and the island town Srirangam.

Manamadurai is cleaved by river Vaigai that runs through the town and segregates two units of the town on either bank of the river. The residents of the town explain their living as in “akkarai” whenever they get to the other half of the town.

Sir, the other day you said “you lived on ‘Akkarai’ but now you say something else. I said so, but you had no ‘akkarai ‘[keenness ] to understand properly. People on either half refer to the other segment as ‘akkarai’. Day in day out the term ‘akkarai’ rings through the air, with no other term to define the territory. Leaving aside that pervasive expression, an interesting observation of mine is –the river transecting Manamadurai, in lean summer months was a real spectacle those days with a pleasant breeze sweeping along. The river course was a sand bed, as if one was passing along the shores of Marina of the then Madras.  In all honesty, one should admit that the avaricious sand miners would by now have denuded the river bed for its sand, beyond any scope of redemption. 

The glory of the town is something else.

Yes, the pottery of Manamadurai is well known. It implies a few things. Pottery here has drawn attention from all over.  Yes, the mud [red soil ] of the place has the most ideal composition for pot making –especially as a water storing container in harsh summer days. Those pots are sought after for their relatively quick cooling of the content. A variety of earthen pots from here are possessed by buyers from outside

Even more prestigious it is to record here that the Carnatic percussion experts on “Ghatam” get their pieces for professional use from Manamadurai. It would be a surprise to learn that such musicians visit the place and place orders with firms [makers of such special pots] prescribing all specifications that would instantly enhance the tone of the modest instrument –The Ghatam. It is unmistakably clear that  the formulation of the soil material, the level of deriving the proper texture of the red soil paste, casting the pot to shape with the waist to mouth height, circumference of the mouth  and the ultimate durability of the baked pot [extent of baking at right temperature /duration]. Only these individual steps in the process can ensure a product that would safeguard the reputation of the pot maker, as much that of the musician to register a stamp of his class session after session. So, there is clientele for this product; no wonder orders are placed for 4 -6 Ghatam pots at a time for near consistency of tonal quality – a parameter on which the musician and his fame survive. The pot makers are themselves excellent quality control artisan and have built a reputation for answering the needs of the customer.  So, Manamadurai is not a wayside hamlet.

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