The artisan communities of Kerala trace their lineage from Viswakarma, the architect of the gods, and have the traditional generic name of Kammalas, the word meaning makers of structures and articles pleasing to the eye. Masons, carpenters, metalworkers and goldsmiths were the sub-groups.
In Kerala, wood-sculpture shows a greater vitality and variety than stone or metal sculptured Work in wood enjoys this predominant position as a building craft too and the tradition has been able to prolong itself into modern times by turning out new commodities.
The old temples and palaces are treasure houses of decorative woodcraft of the highest quality illustrated in ceilings, doors, pillars.
Though temple cars are fewer in Kerala than on the east coast, some magnificent cars were made at Palghat and Kalpathi in the north. Another car from Padmanabhapuram is now in the Trivandrum museum. The design is shapely, rising in four receding tiers, each tier being richly decorated with minute carvings, both figurative and abstract.
Like the wood-sculpture in the old Catholic and Jacobite churches of Kerala, their great heritage of wood-carving also continues to remain practically unknown to the larger world. Some of these churches have many artistic items of wood-carving.
The bell-metal lamp, which plays a myriad role in Kerala's traditional culture, presents also a matching variety of form and design. The most familiar is the floor lamp. It is a pedestal type with a circular base from which the stem rises and carries the shallow oil basin, in which wicks are placed, the stem being prolonged above it as a decorative headpiece. However, there are infinite variations of the basic design. The shape of the base, its degree of shallowness or depth, the angle of its rim, the differences in the formal transition from the base to the stem, the rings, bulbous swellings and other moldings on the stem, their number and thickness, the rhythm with which they punctuate the verticality, all can vary. The oil basin may have a plain rim or be flower-like, forming stellate and lotus patterns. The headpiece may be simple or end in a decorative bird motif whose form also can vary over a wide stylistic range. Lastly, the size may vary from a few inches to over four feet. The size remaining constant, the verticality can be subtly accented or softened by design and decoration.
The hand-lamp, usually about twelve inches in length, has a totally different form. It has a streamlined bird-like shape, the hollowed head providing the receptacle for the oil and wick and the tail serving as a handle. The body of the lamp is a reservoir from which the oil in the burner is replenished by a spoon attached to the lamp by a chain.
There is a large variety of hanging-lamps. In the so-called "horse-lamp", the oil basin has on its rim the figure of a mounted knight. The horse is rearing and, therefore, its head and forelegs are raised high.
There is a unique four-hundred-year-old tradition of making metal mirrors at Aranmula. Made out of an alloy of copper and tin, it is usually oval in shape and about six inches by four inches. The polished surface gives a clear reflection.
Ivory carving
The tradition of ivory work in Kerala is very old. Single images represent the gods of the Hindu pantheon, more complex and ambitious achievements of the artisans are exemplified by objects like thrones and palanquins. The eighteenth-century throne in the Rangavilasam palace, Trivandrum, has decorative carving in both low and high relief, in five bands. Among the scenes represented in high relief is a music party. The palanquin in the Mattancheri palace is nearly six feet in length, over three feet broad and slightly less than two feet in depth. The legs are shaped like those of a tortoise, while the top is like a shallow corolla with eight lobes.Etching and painting on ivory were also practiced besides relievo and carving in the round.
Adornment
We can now take up the artisan traditions that catered directly to personal adornment including decoration of the idols worshipped in temples. These are jewellery, handlooms and embroidery. Jewellery in Kerala seems to have originated in connection with ritual and magical beliefs, though later it developed its aesthetics as an autonomous tradition. Rings were made in the old days out of the seeds of the Pala tree which is sacred to the patron goddess of the Hindus of Kerala. Rings were also made of tiger-claws and the teeth and hair of elephants, probably as magical protection against wild animals
The handloom garment which corresponds to the sari of the north is called Neryath. The weave is very fine and the unbleached garment has the colour of dusky gold. Borders are in gold or silver thread. The garment has a quiet distinction, a refined aristocratic elegance without the slightest ostentation.
Furnishings
Indigenous furnishings consist of material made of coir and fibrous plants. Coir matting are ideal for long corridors and coir carpets as floor coverings of limited length but of greater width. Coir mats differ from mattings and carpets in that the surface of the former is covered with tufts of coir yarn in most cases though there are a few cases where they are covered with yarn itself.
Mats for drying grain, winnowing-pans, baskets, etc., are also made from reed in attractive traditional designs, which are complex in the geometrical patterning of their weaving, but seem spontaneous when one watches them taking shape under the sure and sensitive fingers of the craftsman. The golden straw of paddy is used in a new craft tradition, which is only a few decades old, to compose representations of Kerala landscape. Bits of straw are pasted with resin on a strip of black silk stretched over cardboard backing to build up a picture of palm-fringed backwaters with huts and boats.
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