With the influx of modernisation, ‘unbreakable’ pots of black clay made by the Kota tribals, once an intrinsic part of the traditions and rituals of the native Badaga and other tribal communities in the Nilgiris, are now a rare sight in their households.
So, it was quite a discovery when one such pot, said to be 150 years old and made by the Kota women, was found well-preserved, but abandoned, in the loft of a Badaga house in Melur Hullathi village last week.
As was the lore, the dusty pot seemed unbreakable.
Once a common sight in the hill district, the gradual disappearance of these vessels symbolic of tribal tradition has been attributed to the penetration of Western culture and more significantly, the conversion of tiled houses into concrete ones.
“Kota pottery played a significant role in each of the Badaga houses because it was used for cooking food, preparing prasadam in temples during festivals, for house warming ceremonies and also during funerals. Before Independence, Kota pottery was the primary and locally available source of cooking utensils in the hill station due to the lack of communication and transport facilities. Till the 1930s, the Kota pots were an integral part of the communities here. After Independence, they were replaced by cheap earthen pots and aluminium and stainless steel utensils brought from outside the district,” according to Matha Gowder, a village elder.
M Ravichandran, an artiste with the Government Art Gallery, who has been tracking the journey of these unique vessels for the paintings often found on them, offering an insight into the tradition and culture of the Nilgiris, pointed out,”So far, only the traditional attire of the tribals like Kota, Toda, Kurubmba, Irula, Paniya and Kattunaikan as well as Badaga, are being used for cultural dances during school, college functions and native festivals. But, the present generation is not aware of the important household items such as pots used by their ancestors. Hence, I took interest in collecting the information and discovered a Kota pot in a Badaga household.”
The artiste pointed out that these pots could hold the key to many other facets of the Kotas.
“Kotas produced not only pots for cooking and ceremonies, but also made metal tools like axes and knives for cutting firewood and supplied these items to the Badaga villages situated near Kota hamlets. I want to lure youngsters of the Nilgiris and tourists to the Art Gallery,” he said. Conservationists have found support in the recent past.
In 1993, the Rural Development Organisation Trust, which worked for the development of tribals, took efforts to revive Kota pottery.
The Trust imparted training to Kota tribal women in Kundah Kotagiri village near Manjoor.
Their efforts have paid off. Local communities have now started using these pots for temple festivals, house-warming, weddings and funeral ceremonies.
However, earthen pots from the plains are available at local markets at cheap rates, posing imminent threat.
As a village elder Bellie Mathan recalled, “In the olden days, quality clay and wet mud were available in the district because most of the lands were swamps. Now, the swamp lands are rarely found here due to exploitation of ground water, destruction of forests and use of chemicals in farms. Hence, the strong clay is not found here to make the unbreakable pots.”