TIRUNELVELI: Having recently added the National Shilp Guru award to his already swelling kitty, master Pathamadai mat craftsman K Rahmatullah expressed hope that the government would take initiatives to support the industry with subsidies and loans.
One of the greatest exponent of Pathamadai mat making art, Rahmatullah was conferred with the the Shilp Guru award by the President of India Pranab Mukherjee on July 1 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, for his valuable contribution and excellence in Kora grass mat craft. Earlier, he had received the national award for mastery in mat weaving in 2003 from the then president APJ Abdul Kalam.
Despite several Central and State governments awards coming his way, Rahmatullah continues to live in a rented house at Pathamadai in the district, struggling to make his mat-weaving business a successful venture.
Born into a weavers’ family in Pathamadai, the traditional knowledge of the art was passed on to him by his elders. According to Rahmatullah, Pathamadai weavers are known for producing two kinds of mats - normal and fine - which are completely different in texture and quality from the ordinary ones.
“We differentiate mats based on the counts we use. The ordinary mats require just 18 counts (of fibre) per nine-inch scale while the Pathamadai mats are made using 42 and 50 counts per nine-inch scale. The fine mats are produced using 100/120/140 counts per nine-inch scale,” Rahmatullah explained.
“While it takes six days to weave a normal mat, the fine mats require 22 days. While a Pathamadai normal mat ranges between `1,500 and `2,000, the fine mats go up to `9,000,” he added.