CHENNAI: One of the oldest pottery villages of Tamil Nadu, Manganiyam, located about 25 km from Tambaram, is now a picture of gloom. The residents say Covid-19 disrupted their lives so badly that they now have to search for other means of livelihood.
One would assume that Manganiyam, the home of the Udayar community, which has a century-old legacy in pottery, would be dotted with pots of various sizes on either side of the village inroads. But the reality is that only a handful of people knew about the village and could guide us there. Most people, even those living just 2 km away, did not know about the potters.
On visiting the village just two weeks ahead of Pongal, we saw no abundance of pots, but just an old potter at work in a corner of a deserted street. Manganiyam, Thalamangalam (four km from Manganyam), Kodambakkam in Chennai, and Thiruneermalai were known as hotspots for supplying pots during Pongal. But now, only a few potters remain.
“There were about 80 potter families in Manganiyam, Kodambakkam, Thiruneermalai and Thalamangalam. It was not possible to start a fire to heat the pots in the city (Kodambakkam) due to the restrictions imposed by the government. Also, the demand for earthen pots gradually reduced. Covid-19 made the situation even worse,” said 81-year-old Sivalingam.
Around Pongal (December and January), the most lucrative season for potters, they used to earn about Rs 10,000 per month, and during the rest of the year, their income used to range from Rs 500 to Rs 5,000 per month. “Earlier, we used to get at least Rs 80 per pot during Pongal. Post Covid-19, shopkeepers, who sell these pots for at least Rs 200 in the city, started giving us only Rs 35-40 per pot. How can we carry on our legacy this way?” asked 63-year-old Tulasi Kuppuswamy.
The code of the village used to be simple. At the age of 13, watch and learn from your family, and then get your hands on the clay. But now, residents of the village prefer taking up carpentry, construction work or other jobs that fetch them more money.
“My son used to be a potter. But when he realised he was hardly making any money, he moved to carpentry. The legacy is dying,” said M Ramakrishnan, another potter, with his eyes welling up.
However, the culprit is not just Covid-19. Availability and transportation of mud was earlier not a problem. All the villagers had to do was take a bullock cart and head to the river. Now, they have to get permission from the collectorate and pay Rs 1,500 per truckload. As the process requires both passion and patience, none of the potters’ children are interested in taking up the craft.
The villagers say that during Boghi, hundreds of people from Chennai used to visit Manganiyam to buy pots. However, as the business kept waning over the years, the villagers themselves visit their relatives in the city during festivals.