BRONZE ITEMS-PART1 Dear friends,
Today my topic is bronze. A few items used in day to day life by us aretold in this posting. Depending on the percentage of tin with copper thebrittle nature of bronze items change. If tin is more the bronze would be more brittle,but would not oxidize. Now the bronzeitems not for cooking have lesser content of tin. I am continuing with bronzeitems. Bronze items are molded. (Mould is a British English spelling of mold). Sincerely, Gopala Krishnan 22-12-2020 2 Uruli I have posted about Kindi in a separateposting today. I select next bronzeitem Uruli. Uruli is well in existence. There are different sizes ofUruli-Large, medium and small. The medium and smaller ones are mostly used andlarger one on festive occasion. During feast many items are prepared in Uruli. The Uruli is a wide circular vessel having a diameter of 1-3 feet andheight of about 2-4 inches. Uruli finds an extensive use in temples. Nivedyamto the god is invariably taken in Uruli in all temples. This uruli is taken inboth hands and taken from Madapalli after preparation by Kizsanthi toSreekovil. Normally in all temples the vessels cleaning is entrusted to the womanfolk of Marar caste. Marar plays drums, Nadaaswaram (shehnai) etc. for Sreebaliand poojas. After every preparation and use Uruli is cleaned for the nextoccasion. Hence all temples have sufficient number of them. Invariably after washing and cleaning it is brought back and kept upsidedown. In the Mahaganapathi temple at Kottarakkara in Kerala Appam is preparedin the mold called Appakkarafacing southwards. Keeping the south door open. A small idol of Mahaganapathiis facing south there. After preparation they are kept in another Uruli. Thevery preparation of appam and keeping itself is Neivedyam there. There is a vazhipadu called Uruli Kamizthal in Mannarsala serpent templein Kerala. Couples having no issues after worship and circumambulating keepupside down Uruli in the temple before Nagaraja. After begetting child, thecouple should come with child, Uruli has to be touched by child and keptnormal. The practice has got variation now. Normally for Sastha preethi payasam (Saisavam) is prepared in alarge Uruli. The old practice was tokeep the preparation as it is in front of Sastha for neivedyam. This practicealso got variation now. Uruli has got a very prominent role in all sastha temples. The bigger Uruli is invariably the part of festivals. Idichu pizhinjaPayasam is prepared in bigger Uruli. (Payasam with rice, coconut milk andjaggery). Cheria/medium Uruli is used for all other preparations in Sadhya. Today we see Uruli is kept in receptions of shops, hotels and Houses andwater is kept and flowers are spread. It is considered as an auspicious sign ofwelcoming. The size of Uruli depends on the size of room. Small Uruli is used as decorative item too. 3. VARPU Varpu is a very large Uruli. Varpu is also used for preparation ofPayasam, rice, dishes like thoran, aviyal, frying papads etc. Varpu haspractically disappeared except in temples like Ambalappuzha, Vaikkam etc. Onthose days most samooham matams had varppu. Its heavy weight and very careful handling are its minus points. Varpuwas never cleaned by women folk. Due to its heavy weight only men folk used toclean them. It was carried on head keeping upside down. Handling was done usingtwo big ears and inserting thick wooden rods. There is aplace by name Tiruvarppu near Kottayam. 4. VENKALAPPANA Venkalappana is used extensively for preparation ofrice. It has almost similar appearance to Chembukalam (copper pot). Normally a Venkalappana full of rice would besufficient for a family of 7-9 persons for one meal. At least in some homesrice preparation for sraadha small size Venkalappna is still used. There is asaying “Orupana chorinu oru choru padam” (To test the quality of one pot fullof rice one rice is sufficient). Another saying is mamiar udaichal mankalam,mattupon udachhal venkalam. (If pot was broken on handling by mother in law, itis mudpot. If the same happened on handling by daughter in law it is bronzepot) Venkalappana is still used by many iyers in Keralaand Tamilnadu. For making both ends meetit is common among iyers to say- Venkalappana aduppileranamae( Bronze pot has to be kept on oven toprepare rice) 5. VENKALAPPAor CHATTUKAM This is used for serving as well as mixing during preparationof rice during the boiling stage. For sraadha homam in the olden days Agni wastaken from aduppu in Venkalappa. Nowadays camphor is burnt in venkalappa forAgni for sraadha. But Venkalappa has its place still in Brahmin household. 6.VENKALATHATTU I have seen venkalathattu used for taking food inolden days. But it is totally unavailable and replaced by stainless steelplates of thickness. We cannot get a venkala thattu in vessels shop. 7. OTTUTUMBLER I have seen Ottu tumbler being used for drinkingmilk, measuring oils from vender etc in my home by my grandmother. Today Ottuglass also have disappeared other than in show cause. I willcontinue in next posting -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1113125007.2492538.1608593741366%40mail.yahoo.com.
