
CHENNAI: Is your pot half-full or half-empty? Has it ever occurred that pottery traditions of a region have been influential to shape culinary traditions in most ancient cultures?
Take Pongal for that matter! Even today the native way of celebrating Pongal is either by using the earthen pot or by decorating the cooking pot. The architects of our civilisation have ideated a thanksgiving festival that has kept us connected to nature.
The pride we can take for belonging to this culture is that we have continued to keep the core values and nativity intact most of the time. Having said that, there is still scope for improvement when it comes to toning down those thoughts that fuels false pride and woke identity.
But it is important to remain self-reflective and grounded while reclaiming our cultural identity: its pride as well as nativity by knowing to appreciate the unseen and intangible aspects of our cultural heritage.
On that note, to continue the thoughts on pottery, the obsession with ‘pot’ was not just that of the potters and civilisational architects, it has been used and applied by the visual architects in the field of sculpture and theatre as well. Here is how.
Forms holding ‘the pot’
In the sculptural tradition, pots are synonymous to the auspiciousness of rivers. India, being a river-based civilisation, there are several rivers that have defined our regional identity, but three Indic ideas salient to movement have gained anthropomorphic forms. These movements are — Ganga, Yamuna, and Sarasvati.
Among various forms she assumes, Ganga as a river, found at the threshold of every sanctum or gopura dvaras of temples, will be the focus. Best way to identify the river is to spot a young maiden holding a pot, intertwined with a creeper, standing on a makara, the mystical creature.
While Ganga begins her journey as a volatile, dynamic and compelling young maiden dancing down the Shivalik mountains; at Kasi, she matures and acquires the femininity and grace of a poised lady. That being so, on the ghats of Kasi, Ganga’s presence has been felt profusely by those seeking closure in want of a comfort that can fill the deep seated void. The movement of makara symbolises an occult threshold that reveals the realm between life and death.
Like Ganga, the pot held by Yamuna can also be found in temple doorways. But the difference is that she can be found standing on a tortoise. Unlike makara, the tortoise is more concrete and practical. Its movement symbolises longevity as a result of sound judgement.
Among the three rivers, Sarasvati is the one who is assumed to have ascended back to heaven. A master representation of Sarasvati can be seen at Gangaikonda Cholapuram temple. She will be seen seated on a lotus, holding a pot with rosary beads and the wisdom texts. Her right finger pointing upwards indicates the movements needed for the ascend.
Sarasvati, as an idea, is an extended thought of the transformative potential of Ganga and Yamuna. She is often felt as inner silence that dawns after a life lesson and therefore worshipped as the goddess of wisdom. For this reason, despite her ascend, her essence as the civilisational river is kept alive in the living culture — she is believed to meet Ganga and Yamuna as Gupta Gamini at Prayagraj.
Incidentally, this year’s Maha Kumbh has commenced, and devotees world over are gathering at Prayagraj to feel the presence of these ethereal rivers, seeking catharsis. How transformational the rivers will be as impact will totally depend on individual beliefs as well as how intensely one engages at the subtle layers of the body.
Pots holding ‘the form’
While the symbolism for ‘the pot’ has been attributed to movement, fertility, and prosperity, the functionality of pot is known ‘to store’. Ideally speaking, it is meant to store sublime experiences, but realistically speaking, life experiences are a handful of surprises.
The pot at the metacognitive level, is thus, an analogy for the body in the Indian knowledge system. Just as the pot is made of soil, the body is also made of soil; similarly, just as the pot encompasses the space inside, the body also embodies the sacred space within.
With this functionality as an underlying principle, classical theatre and ritualistic performances explored psyches using sentiments. In the case of classical theatre, the actor transforms as the patra, or character. To wear a patra, a traditional actor’s training was to master the art of stripping layers of conditionings and false identities. The idea was that the pot first needed to be empty to fill itself with something.
In the case of the ritualistic performance, the performers were masters in ‘letting go’, to transcend earthly planes for becoming a vessel (also patra): in order for the divine word (or vak) to manifest. In Andhra and Tamil Nadu, the bardic communities are supposed to possess this gift. In the Dravidian villages of the West Coast, Theyyam, Padayani, Bhuta-kola are a few ritualistic traditions still in vogue.