Part 10

In connection with the professional calling of the Kammalans, Surgeon-Major W. R. Cornish writes as follows. [74] "The artisans, who are smiths or carpenters, usually bring up their children to the same pursuits. It might have been supposed that the hereditary influence in the course of generations would have tended to excellence in the several pursuits, but it has not been so. Ordinary native work in metal, stone, and wood, is coarse and rough, and the designs are of the stereotyped form. The improvement in handicraft work of late years has been entirely due to European influence. The constructors of railways have been great educators of artisans. The quality of stone-masonry, brick-work, carpentry, and smith-work has vastly improved within the last twenty years, and especially in districts where railway works have been in progress. The gold and silver smiths of Southern India are a numerous body. Their chief employment consists in setting and making native jewellery. Some of their designs are ingenious, but here again the ordinary work for native customers is often noticeable for a want of finish, and, with the exception of a few articles made for the European markets, there is no evidence of progressive improvement in design or execution. That the native artists are capable of improvement as a class is evident from their skill and ingenuity in copying designs set before them, and from the excellent finish of their work under European supervision; but there must be a demand for highly finished work before the goldsmiths will have generally improved. The wearers of jewellery in India look more to the intrinsic value of an article, than to the excellence of the design or workmanship. So that there is very little encouragement for artistic display." The collection of silver jewelry at the Madras Museum, which was made in connection with the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, London, 1886, bears testimony to the artistic skill of the silversmiths. Recently, Colonel Townshend, Superintendent of the Madras Gun Carriage Factory, has expressed his opinion [75] that "good as the Bombay smiths are, the blacksmiths of Southern India are the best in Hindustan, and the pick of them run English smiths very close, not only in skill, but in speed of outturn."

Anyone who has seen the celebrated temples of Southern India, for example, the Madura and Tanjore temples, and the carving on temple cars, can form some idea of the skill of South Indian stone-masons and carpenters. The following note on idols and idol-makers is taken from a recent article. [76] "The idol-maker's craft, like most of the other callings in this country, is a hereditary one, and a workman who has earned some reputation for himself, or has had an ancestor of renown, is a made man. The Sthapathi, as he is called in Sanskrit, claims high social rank among the representatives of the artisan castes. Of course he wears a heavy sacred thread, and affects Brahman ways of living. He does not touch flesh, and liquor rarely passes down his throat, as he recognises that a clear eye and steady hand are the first essentials of success in his calling. There are two sorts of idols in every temple, mulavigrahas or stone idols which are fixed to the ground, and utsavavigrahas or metal idols used in processions. In the worst equipped pagoda there are at least a dozen idols of every variety. They do duty for generations, for, though they become black and begrimed with oil and ashes, they are rarely replaced, as age and dirt but add to their sanctity. But now and then they get desecrated for some reason, and fresh ones have to be installed in their stead; or it may be that extensions are made in the temple, and godlings in the Hindu Pantheon, not accommodated within its precincts till then, have to be carved and consecrated. It is on such occasions that the hands of the local Sthapathi are full of work, and his workshop is as busy as a bee-hive. In the larger temples, such as the one at Madura, the idols in which are to be counted by the score, there are Sthapathis on the establishment receiving fixed emoluments. Despite the smallness of the annual salary, the office of temple Sthapathi is an eagerly coveted one, for, among other privileges, the fortunate individual enjoys that of having his workshop located in the temple premises, and thereby secures an advertisement that is not to be despised. Besides, he is not debarred from adding to his pecuniary resources by doing outside work when his hands are idle. Among stone images, the largest demand is for representations of Ganapati or Vignesvara (the elephant god), whose popularity extends throughout India. Every hamlet has at least one little temple devoted to his exclusive worship, and his shrines are found in the most unlikely places. Travellers who have had occasion to pass along the sandy roads of the Tanjore district must be familiar with the idols of the god of the protuberant paunch, which they pass every half mile or so, reposing under the shade of avenue trees with an air of self-satisfaction suffusing their elephantine features. Among other idols called into being for the purpose of wayside installation in Southern India, may be mentioned those of Viran, the Madura godling, who requires offerings of liquor, Mariamma, the small-pox goddess, and the evil spirit Sangili Karappan. Representations are also carved of nagas or serpents, and installed by the dozen round the village asvatha tree (Ficus religiosa). Almost every week, the mail steamer to Rangoon takes a heavy consignment of stone and metal idols commissioned by the South Indian settlers in Burma for purposes of domestic and public worship. The usual posture of mulavigrahas is a standing one, the figure of Vishnu in the Srirangam temple, which represents the deity as lying down at full length, being an exception to this rule. The normal height is less than four feet, some idols, however, being of gigantic proportions. Considering the very crude material on which he works, and the primitive methods of stone-carving which he continues to favour, the expert craftsman achieves quite a surprising degree of smoothness and polish. It takes him several weeks of unremitting toil to produce a vigraha that absolutely satisfies his critical eye. I have seen him engaged for hours at a stretch on the trunk of Vignesvara or the matted tuft of a Rishi. The casting of utsavavigrahas involves a greater variety of process than the carving of stone figures. The substance usually employed is a compound of brass, copper and lead, small quantities of silver and gold being added, means permitting. The required figure is first moulded in some plastic substance, such as wax or tallow, and coated with a thin layer of soft wet clay, in which one or two openings are left. When the clay is dry, the figure is placed in a kiln, and the red-hot liquid metal is poured into the hollow created by the running out of the melted wax. The furnace is then extinguished, the metal left to cool and solidify, and the clay coating removed. A crude approximation to the image required is thus obtained, which is improved upon with file and chisel, till the finished product is a far more artistic article than the figure that was enclosed within the clay. It is thus seen that every idol is made in one piece, but spare hands and feet are supplied, if desired. Whenever necessary, the Archaka (temple priest) conceals the limbs with cloth and flowers, and, inserting at the proper places little pieces of wood which are held in position by numerous bits of string, screws on the spare parts, so as to fit in with the posture that the idol is to assume during any particular procession."

An association, called the Visvakarma Kulabhimana Sabha, was established in the city of Madras by the Kammalans in 1903. The objects thereof were the advancement of the community as a whole on intellectual and industrial lines, the provision of practical measures in guarding the interests, welfare and prospects of the community, and the improvement of the arts and sciences peculiar to them by opening industrial schools and workshops, etc.

Of proverbs relating to the artisan classes, the following may be noted:--

The goldsmith who has a thousand persons to answer. This in reference to the delay in finishing a job, owing to his taking more orders than he can accomplish in a given time.

The goldsmith knows what ornaments are of fine gold, i.e., knows who are the rich men of a place.

It must either be with the goldsmith, or in the pot in which he melts gold, i.e., it will be found somewhere in the house. Said to one who is in search of something that cannot be found.

Goldsmiths put inferior gold into the refining-pot.

If, successful, pour it into a mould; if not, pour it into the melting pot. The Rev. H. Jensen explains [77] that the goldsmith examines the gold after melting it. If it is free from dross, he pours it into the mould; if it is still impure, it goes back into the pot.

The goldsmith will steal a quarter of the gold of even his own mother.

Stolen gold may be either with the goldsmith, or in his fire-pot.

If the ear of the cow of a Kammalan is cut and examined, some wax will be found in it. It is said that the Kammalan is in the habit of substituting sealing-wax for gold, and thus cheating people. The proverb warns them not to accept even a cow from a Kammalan. Or, according to another explanation, a Kammalan made a figure of a cow, which was so lifelike that a Brahman purchased it as a live animal with his hard-earned money, and, discovering his mistake, went mad. Since that time, people were warned to examine an animal offered for sale by Kammalans by cutting off its ears. A variant of the proverb is that, though you buy a Kammalan's cow only after cutting its ears, he will have put red wax in its ears (so that, if they are cut into, they will look like red flesh).

What has a dog to do in a blacksmith's shop? Said of a man who attempts to do work he is not fitted for.

When the blacksmith sees that the iron is soft, he will raise himself to the stroke.

Will the blacksmith be alarmed at the sound of a hammer?

When a child is born in a blacksmith's family, sugar must be dealt out in the street of the dancing-girls. This has reference to the legendary relation of the Kammalans and Kaikolans.

A blacksmith's shop, and the place in which donkeys roll themselves, are alike.

The carpenters and blacksmiths are to be relegated, i.e., to the part of the village called the Kammalacheri.

What if the carpenter's wife has become a widow? This would seem to refer to the former practice of widow remarriage.

The carpenter wants (his wood) too long, and the blacksmith wants (his iron) too short, i.e., a carpenter can easily shorten a piece of wood, and a blacksmith can easily hammer out a piece of iron.

When a Kammalan buys cloth, the stuff he buys is so thin that it does not hide the hair on his legs.

Kammalan (Malayalam).--"The Kammalans of Malabar," Mr. Francis writes, [78] "are artisans, like those referred to immediately above, but they take a lower position than the Kammalans and Kamsalas of the other coast, or the Panchalas of the Canarese country. They do not claim to be Brahmans or wear the sacred thread, and they accept the position of a polluting caste, not being allowed into the temples or into Brahman houses. The highest sub-division is Asari, the men of which are carpenters, and wear the thread at certain ceremonies connected with house-building."

According to Mr. F. Fawcett "the orthodox number of classes of Kammalans is five. But the artisans do not admit that the workers in leather belong to the guild, and say that there are only four classes. According to them, the fifth class was composed of coppersmiths, who, after the exodus, remained in Izhuva land, and did not return thence with them to Malabar. [79] Nevertheless, they always speak of themselves as the Ayen Kudi or five-house Kammalans. The carpenters say that eighteen families of their community remained behind in Izhuva land. Some of these returned long afterwards, but they were not allowed to rejoin the caste. They are known as Puzhi Tachan or sand carpenters, and Pathinettanmar or the eighteen people. There are four families of this class now living at or near Parpan gadi. They are carpenters, but the Asaris treat them as outcastes."

For the following note on Malabar Kammalans I am indebted to Mr. S. Appadorai Iyer. The five artisan classes, or Ayinkudi Kammalans, are made up of the following:--

Asari, carpenters. Musari, braziers. Tattan, goldsmiths. Karuman, blacksmiths. Chembotti or Chempotti, coppersmiths.

The name Chembotti is derived from chembu, copper, and kotti, he who beats. They are, according to Mr. Francis, "coppersmiths in Malabar, who are distinct from the Malabar Kammalans. They are supposed to be descendants of men who made copper idols for temples, and so rank above the Kammalans in social position, and about equally with the lower sections of the Nayars."

The Kammalans will not condescend to eat food at the hands of Kurups, Tolkollans, Pulluvans, Mannans, or Tandans. But a Tandan thinks it equally beneath his dignity to accept food from a Kammalan. The Kammalans believe themselves to be indigenous in Malabar, and boast that their system of polyandry is the result of the sojourn of the exiled Pandavas, with their common wife Panchali, and their mother Kunthi, in the forest of the Walluvanad division. They say that the destruction of the Pandavas was attempted in the Arakkuparamba amsam of this division, and that the Tac'chans (artisans) were given as a reward by the Kurus the enjoyment of Tacchanattukara amsam. They state further that the Pandus lived for some time at the village of Bhimanad, and went to the Attapadi valley, where they deposited their cooking utensils at the spot where the water falls from a height of several hundred feet. This portion of the river is called Kuntipuzha, and the noise of the water, said to be falling on the upset utensils, is heard at a great distance.

The Kammalans, male and female, dress like Nayars, and their ornaments are almost similar to those of the Nayars, with this difference, that the female Tattan wears a single chittu or ring in the right ear only.

In the building of a house, the services of the Asari are required throughout. He it is who draws the plan of the building. And, when a door is fixed or beam raised, he receives his perquisite. The completion of a house is signified as a rule by a kutti-poosa. For this ceremony, the owner of the house has to supply the workmen with at least four goats to be sacrificed at the four corners thereof, a number of fowls to be killed so that the blood may be smeared on the walls and ceiling, and an ample meal with liquor. The feast concluded, the workmen receive presents of rings, gold ear-rings, silk and other cloths, of which the Moothasari or chief carpenter receives the lion's share. "The village carpenter," Mr. Gopal Panikkar writes, [80] "has to do everything connected with our architecture, such as fixing poles or wickets at the exact spot where buildings are to be erected, and clearing newly erected buildings of all devils and demons that may be haunting them. This he does by means of pujas (worship) performed after the completion of the building. But people have begun to break through the village traditions, and to entrust architectural work to competent hands, when the village carpenter is found incompetent for the same."

It is noted by Canter Visscher [81] that "in commencing the building of a house, the first prop must be put up on the east side. The carpenters open three or four cocoanuts, spilling the juice as little as possible, and put some tips of betel leaves into them; and, from the way these float in the liquid, they foretell whether the house will be lucky or unlucky, whether it will stand for a long or short period, and whether another will ever be erected on its site. I have been told that the heathens say that the destruction of fort Paponetti by our arms was foretold by the builders from these auguries."

The blacksmith is employed in the manufacture of locks and keys, and ornamental iron and brasswork for the houses of the rich. The smithy is near the dwelling hut, and the wife blows the bellows. The smith makes tyres for wheels, spades, choppers, knives, sickles, iron spoons, ploughshares, shoes for cattle and horses, etc. These he takes to the nearest market, and sells there. In some places there are clever smiths, who make excellent chellams (betel boxes) of brass, and there is one man at Walluvanad who even makes stylographic pens.

The Musari works in bell-metal, and makes all kinds of household utensils, and large vessels for cooking purposes. He is an adept at making such articles with the proper proportions of copper, lead and brass. In some of the houses of the wealthier classes there are cooking utensils, which cost nearly a thousand rupees. Excellent bell-metal articles are made at Cherpalcheri, and Kunhimangalam in North Malabar is celebrated for its bell-metal lamps. The importation of enamelled and aluminium vessels, and lamps made in Europe, has made such inroads into the metal industry of the district that the brazier and blacksmith find their occupation declining.

The goldsmith makes all kinds of gold ornaments worn by Malaialis. His lot is better than that of the other artisan classes.

It is noted in the Malabar Marriage Commission's report that "among carpenters and blacksmiths in the Calicut, Walluvanad and Ponnani taluks, several brothers have one wife between them, although the son succeeds the father amongst them." Polyandry of the fraternal type is said to be most prevalent among the blacksmiths, who lead the most precarious existence, and have to observe the strictest economy. As with the Nayars, the tali-kettu kalyanam has to be celebrated. For this the parents of the child have to find a suitable manavalan or bridegroom by the consultation of horoscopes. An auspicious day is fixed, and new cloths are presented to the manavalan. The girl bathes, and puts on new clothes. She and the manavalan are conducted to a pandal (booth), where the tali-tying ceremony takes place. This concluded, the manavalan takes a thread from the new cloth, and breaks it in two, saying that his union with the girl has ceased. He then walks away without looking back. When a Kammalan contemplates matrimony, his parents look out for a suitable bride. They are received by the girl's parents, and enquiries are made concerning her. The visit is twice repeated, and, when an arrangement has been arrived at, the village astrologer is summoned, and the horoscopes of the contracting parties are consulted. It is sufficient if the horoscope of one of the sons agrees with that of the girl. The parents of the sons deposit as earnest money, or achcharapanam, four, eight, twelve, or twenty-one fanams according to their means, in the presence of the artisans of the village; and a new cloth (kacha) is presented to the bride, who thus becomes the wife of all the sons. There are instances in which the girl, after the achcharam marriage, is immediately taken to the husband's house. All the brother-husbands, dressed in new clothes and decorated with ornaments, with a new palmyra leaf umbrella in the hand, come in procession to the bride's house, where they are received by her parents and friends, and escorted to the marriage pandal. The bride and bridegrooms sit in a row, and the girl's parents give them fruits and sugar. This ceremony is called mathuram kotukkal. The party then adjourns to the house of the bridegrooms where a feast is held, in the course of which a ceremony called pal kotukkal is performed. The priest of the Kammalans takes some milk in a vessel, and pours it into the mouths of the bride and bridegrooms, who are seated, the eldest on the right, the others in order of seniority, and lastly the bride. During the nuptials the parents of the bride have to present a water-vessel, lamp, eating dish, cooking vessel, spittoon, and a vessel for drawing water from the well. The eldest brother cohabits with the bride on the wedding day, and special days are set apart for each brother. There seems to be a belief among the Kammalan women that, the more husbands they have, the greater will be their happiness. If one of the brothers, on the ground of incompatibility of temper, brings a new wife, she is privileged to cohabit with the other brothers. In some cases, a girl will have brothers ranging in age from twenty-five to five, whom she has to regard as her husband, so that by the time the youngest reaches puberty she may be well over thirty, and a young man has to perform the duties of a husband with a woman who is twice his age.

If a woman becomes pregnant before the achchara kalyanam has been performed, her parents are obliged to satisfy the community that her condition was caused by a man of their own caste, and he has to marry the girl. If the paternity cannot be traced, a council is held, and the woman is turned out of the caste. In the sixth or eighth month of pregnancy, the woman is taken to her mother's house, where the first confinement takes place. During her stay there the pulikudi ceremony is performed. The husbands come, and present their wife with a new cloth. A branch of a tamarind tree is planted in the yard of the house, and, in the presence of the relations, the brother of the pregnant woman gives her conji (rice gruel) mixed with the juices of the tamarind, Spondias mangifera and Hibiscus, to drink. The customary feast then takes place. A barber woman (Mannathi) acts as midwife. On the fourteenth day after childbirth, the Thali-kurup sprinkles water over the woman, and the Mannathi gives her a newly-washed cloth to wear. Purification concludes with a bath on the fifteenth day. On the twenty-eighth day the child-naming ceremony takes place. The infant is placed in its father's lap, and in front of it are set a measure of rice and paddy (unhusked rice) on a plantain leaf. A brass lamp is raised, and a cocoanut broken. The worship of Ganesa takes place, and the child is named after its grandfather or grandmother. In the sixth month the choronu or rice-giving ceremony takes place. In the first year of the life of a boy the ears are pierced, and gold ear-rings inserted. In the case of a girl, the ear-boring ceremony takes place in the sixth or seventh year. The right nostril of girls is also bored, and mukkuthi worn therein.