NEWSLINKS
INDIA & THE WTO
NEW GOVERNMENT
COMMENTARY
INTERVIEWS
SPECIALS
CHAT
ARCHIVES
SEARCH REDIFF

The Rediff Business Special/V Gangadhar

Pocketful of business: new markets beckon grass-mats of Tamil Nadu

Three years after India became a republic in 1950, Queen Elizabeth II was coronated. As India celebrates its 50th Republic Day on January 26, 2000, one is reminded of the fact that Queen Elizabeth II would celebrate the golden jubilee of her coronation in 2003. She will receive a flood of gifts. I only wish some of them would be as good as one particular gift she had received in 1953. A special, finely-woven mat from Pathamadai village in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. The pattu pai (fine mat) was a gift from the government of India.

Tamil Nadu produces nearly 90 per cent of all the woven grass-mats made in India. Of course, most of them, particularly the coarser varieties, were made in the powerloom sector. But Pathamadai village still continues the tradition of the hand-woven fine mats which are widely appreciated. It is as much an art as it is a fascinating business.

What is so special about these superfine mats? Like the legendary Dacca muslin, yards of which can be rolled and put inside a match box, the superfine mats can be folded and put into the coat pockets! Soft to the touch, their colouring and designs are exquisite. I guess there was something special about the korai grass which grew in plenty in the region and the waters of the Tambiravarni river flowing close by.

The mat industry is more than 250 years old. For making coarse mats, the korai grass is soaked in water for two days; for the finer variety, this is extended to five days. Some of the villagers discovered that when the grass was kept soaked for longer periods, it became softer and lent itself to weaving for the superfine quality mats.

The process is long, complicated and needs patience as well as special skills. The korai (Cyprus ponganis and Cyprus rotundis) grass is plucked from the riverbed and the three thin reeds within each blade extracted. These are used for weaving either in natural colours or after dyeing. While the reeds are still wet, they are fixed on the loom to be woven on 100, 120 or 140 counts. The woven mats are then polished with smooth river stones and their edges bound.

While the superfine quality mats are fit enough to grace palaces and become part of a bridal trousseau, the coarser ones are used all over Tamil Nadu for sitting and sleeping.

While attending the primary school at Pathamadai village, we carried mats with us to be spread on the rough floor of the class room. Such was the fame of the Pathamadai superfine mat that it became the subject for a PhD thesis by Ms Soumhya Venkatesan of the Cambridge University! Incidentally, both Soumhya and her mother received superfine mats as part of their trousseau!

The mat-weavers belong the Lebbai Muslim community. Their numbers, over the years, have declined from 60 to only ten. Changing lifestyles, declining demand for the mats, strain on the back imposed by weaving and the usual problems of a disorganised sector have taken a toll of the industry.

Today, most members of the community find rolling beedis (dried tobacco leaves rolled into plain, uncovered mini-cigarettes) more profitable and less strenuous. But the old-timers would not agree. Says 81-year old Fatima Moideen Bai, " The young women of our community do not want to learn mat-weaving. They prefer the easy work of rolling beedis to earn money. How can we think of giving up weaving? It is as dear to us as our thai mozhi ( mother tongue)." 53-year-old Khadiya Biwi had to contend with, besides family problems, the responsibilities of being the village panchayat (the village-level government) president. "But the moment I step on the loom, I forget everything else in the world," she says.

Fortunately, help is on the way to revive the superfine mat industry. Some four years back, the Confederation of the Indian Industry, in an effort to help the craft sector, began the process of identifying the crafts which were dying. The CII was helped by a Bangalore organisation, (Foundation for the Advancement of Craft Enterprise Skills) which selected the Pathamadai mat industry, the Vadessery temple jewellery industry and the bell metal craft of Changanachery, Kerala.

I talked in detail with Vidya Sastry, the Market Facilitator of FACES which recently held an exhibition of the Pathamadai superine mats in Bombay. The idea behind the exhibition was to help the superfine mat-weavers because there was a good market for the coarser mats. Vidya visits Pathamadai at least twice a year to interact with the weavers. FACES also posted a former student of the National Institute of Design as a permanent coordinator for the mat industry in the village. "The local people were keen that the craft should be revived," explains Vidya. "They were happy that the CII and FACES had taken the initiative in this matter."

FACES actively helped in the marketing of the superfine mats. In fact, it bought all the mats made in the village (about ten or twelve a month) and sold them from its Bangalore office. Further, it interacted with architects,interior decorators and affluent marriage parties to place orders for the mats.

"Most of the Tamilians are familiar with the quality and fame of the Pathamamdai superfine mats," points out Vidya. "The Tamilian NRI on his periodic visits to home, always buys and takes with him some of the superfine mats."

FACES also persuaded the weavers to stick to natural dyes than the cheaper, easily handled chemical dyes. "The results are almost the same," says Vidya. "But we have to view the issue from the point of view of holistics." The weavers, with the help of FACES, are designing different kinds of looms to reduce physical discomfort, particularly backache. Today, FACES operates on an annual budget of Rs 1.1 million. "We are a small, but highly motivated group," says Vidya. "Very soon, we shall expand to cover other crafts."

The Cache Art Galley at Bandra in Bombay, where the mats were exhibited, brought back old memories of Pathamadai -- lush green paddy fields, the swiftly-flowing Tambirabarani river, and, of course, the famous pai. The mats in three different sizes were priced between Rs 1,500 and Rs 3,200. The one with the turquoise and sienna border weave (140 strips in one square inch!) was one of the finest mats ever made. I looked at it, touched it with a sense of reverence.

How can we allow such an art to die? I said a silent prayer to the people of FACES. If the art survives and reinvents itself by 2003, the year of the golden jubilee of Queen Elizabeth's coronation, the new-age mats would perhaps make the best gift yet again.

Specials

Business