nagara thettukal

aswasthathakal

in the poem taken by the book of novintea patheyam by sreekumarcheathas

poem by sreekumarcheathas in the book of "novintea patheyam' published  by youth voice,kottiyam,kollam,kerala in2006

THE ENIGMATIC MIRROR FROM ARANMULA-KERALA

aranmula is a little village in the district of PATHANAM THITTA.,KERALA,INDIA. this small village situated on the banks of river pampa.the nearest town in kozhanchery which is famous for rich christian culture.in its town an annual convention MARAMON CONVENTION is held by the christian community.also another convention known as CHERUKOLPUZHA CONVENTION is held by the hindus.both of the conventions are held on the dry river bed of the pampa.also during ONAM,the famous event of the region is the ARANMULA VALLAMKALI.

MYSTERIOUS IN ARANMULA KANNADI'S creation uneqalled in beauty,this is the unique object.this mirror is made of metal,not glass! there in lies its uniqueness and its creation,a closely guarded secret ,known  to any few families,has been handed down from father to son for generations.the metal mirror,a marvel in the annals of metallurgy was in vogue long before the appearence of today silicon synthetic glass mirror was in use in far of egypt and baghdad.the RIG VEDA also mentions the presence of the metal mirror.the ancestors of this craft could have migrated to south india from saptha-sindhu and are descendants of the great masters of the indus vally civilization.

the production of the metal mirror which was commenced during the region of SREE ANIZHAM THIRUNAL MARTHANDA VARMAthe king of erstwhile state of travancore from 1729-58 ME on the behest of the king of pandalam few of these craftsman were brought in the parthsarathy temple in aranmula.this group consisted of artisans specializing in various crafts. there were goldsmith,stone smithand bronze smith.the tamil vishwakarma are basically vishwbrahminsand consider themsaelves a step higher than the rest of the vishwakarma.

producing distortion free images the art of making metal mirrors has long been practiced in various parts of the old world.by 1400 BC ,bronze containing as much as 30 weight percent in tin were used to create mirrors.although brittle,high -tin bonzees also known as speculum meteal,yielded a highly poilished surface&a clear reflected image.

the art of making metal mirrors by casting&polished copper-tin bronze was well understood in india &these mirrors were very poppular for their clarity. indeed the ancient art of making metal mirrors is still practiced without modiifications  as traditional as the mirror making techonology is the  artisans belife that the composition of the metal mirror is divine&that some undisclosed metal  alloy with the copper&tin are responcible for the distortion free images.

a few centuries back the high priest of aranmula temple found that the crown made for deity was cracked.the local king then summoned the head of the bronze smith clan and ordered him to make a new crown with in three days.the crown made out of the combination of copper and tin turned out to be a marvel of art and craft.it was silver like colour,brittle like glass,shone with rare brilliance,and when cleaned acquired the quality of reflection.the mukudam or crown as kannadi bhimbom[mirror image] was preserved in the aranmula temple till1946 .the casters soon worked out the ratious of different metals used.

VAALKKANNADY


there has been mentioning of metal mirror in many puranas including the RIG VEDA .even in the carvings of KHAJURAHO there has been depiction of hand held mirrors. the mirror is oval shape or as per the ancient,it is shaped as the YONNI MUKH or VIRGINAL FACE it depicts femininity ,just as SHIVA LINGA depicts masculinity.ther are many temples in which the vaalkkannadi is used to symbolize goddessthe mirror has a lot of ritualistic importance,the vaalkkannadi has been used by the ladies of wealthy families for make up and also to admire themselves.yes,it has also been an item of social symbol.