GOA IN THE EARLY 1900S: The art of making shining, jet-black ink Circa 1915, Marcela, Goa
Nadkarni teacher (respectfully called as Master or Guruji) started teaching us elementary subjects like Maths and Marathi. In those days, such 'resident' teachers were employed by some well-to-do Hindu families of the village. In addition to the children of the patronizing family, other children in the village, irrespective of their social strata, also used to attend the 'school' which took place either in the portico of the patron's house or in the मुख-मंडप 'mukh-mandap' (main hall) of the village temple. Nadkarni master was very particular about grammatical accuracy of sentences and quality of cursive handwriting. For Maths, the steps to solve the equation had to be detailed, no shortcuts to simply arrive at the final answer were tolerated. Master was quite versatile not only in the scholastic subjects but also knew some tricks-of-the-trade. He taught us to prepare a homemade ointment for minor injuries caused during playing sports as well as to produce a shining jet-black color ink, though making the ink was cumbersome! So, how was this shining, jet-black ink made? उकडो 'Ukdo' (parboiled) rice was roasted to the extent that the rice turned completely dark black. हिरडा 'Hirda' fruits (Myrobalan, botanical name: Terminalia chebula) were collected from the jungle in the vicinity of our village. The Hirda fruits were crushed to remove the seeds inside, after which the Hirda fruits were kept to dry them completely. The treated Ukda rice and the dried Hirda fruits, as above, were pounded together in a खलबत्ता 'Khalbatta' (mortar pestle) to turn both into a fine powder. This powder was then sieved through a clean cotton cloth (markin cloth). Another important ingredient was the काजळ 'Kaajal' (lampblack/soot) which was collected by holding the bottom of a metal bowl over a तीळ 'Teel' (Sesame) fueled oil lamp to disrupt the flame. The above two (i.e., rice mixed hirda powder and kajal) and a bit of gum was mixed vigorously by hand, with intermittent addition of some water to finally produce a shining, jet-black ink! I remember Nadkarni Master's words that this type of ink was being used in the courts of Indian rulers to write official documents. -- [Extract from the book स्मरण “Smaran” (Reminiscence). Author: Balkrishna Dattatray "Ba.Da." Satoskar. Published by Sagar Sahitya, Panjim 1972. Translated for Goanet Reader by Milind Kamat. kamat_mil...@yahoo.com Goanet Reader is edited and compiled by Frederick Noronha. Send your interesting articles, well thought out comment pieces, analysis and translations to fredericknoron...@gmail.com ] *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- Join a discussion on Goa-related issues by posting your comments on this or other issues via email to goa...@goanet.org See archives at http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/ *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-