by R Swaminathan
Revelations regarding the treasures of the Padmanabhaswamy temple in Kerala sometime back were mind-boggling and the final tally has not come. Nor has the job of listing them been finished. Only Maharajas, Mutts and temples in the past maintained a huge collection of vessels all because a huge crowd of pilgrims or visitors had to be taken care of during festivals or coronation ceremonies/anniversaries. It will certainly be a rarest of rare sights for an individual to see huge and very old vessels like andas (vertical cylindrical vessels), thavalais or metallic sofa chairs still in the custody of ancient institutions assembled at a place. Mutts and temples which used them once upon a time over firewood ovens dug in the earth have no more use for them. Nor can anyone dream of arranging lead coating on the inside surface to protect food from contamination.
These could have been donated to the organisations by the erstwhile rulers or bought for their annual festival time use with donations . When and where exactly they came into their possession is not the topic of discourse. That they can no longer waste firewood and pollute the atmosphere while doing the cooking is a stark reality today and moreover, modern appliances have come to occupy the kitchens preparing thousands of meals or other prasadam. One can see such hefty vessels in a place like Balaji temple in Tirupati and the staff use wooden reaper-like object to lift and move them around with the stuff inside.
What aroused a string of serious thought in me was the sight of a lorry being loaded with such huge tavalais, andas, etc., recently near Chennai for despatch to a destination I could not guess. May be they were being sent for polishing or lead coating. Had a John Keats been there today, he would have written instantly “an ode to the ancient Urn.” My wild imagination made me think of the possibility of such vessels being disposed of by weight, as some individuals do while packing up and leaving India for good. Most of those who buy such old vessels (even small ones) smash them up, reduce them to sheer scrap and melt it again for making some new utensils. A flourishing trade in them like the ancient idols is hopefully not there.
The vessels which appeared before my eyes, before being despatched elsewhere I -know not- where, induced me to think that the owners themselves could keep them for posterity by creating a museum. There are umpteen collectors of such ancient kitchenware as decorative pieces in bungalows across the country. Some small thavalais become flower vases or lamps are just kept on wooden stools or tables or hung from the ceiling as an ornamental decoration. They no longer see a wick or oil or they are not lit up. The owner takes pride in his possession and that is it. Kumbakonam vessels are famous and welknown to everyone. These wont be shining at first glance but can be washed with tamarind any time to get the glow of new vessels. Tambalams for example are a fancied lot in many large families even today.
Coming to the consignment, any suggestion to give them all to a government owned or run museum is atrocious because they may disappear from there any time as have many precious idols gone abroad , and will never return. There was a move to create a strongroom for precious idols or icons at Tiruvarur years back so that the treasure of Tamil Nadu is preserved for ever. These vessels could have been sent to such a strongroom for safe keeping. It will be a sad story if they are turned into a liquid to take another shape another day and at another location. Great craftsmen must have used all their ingenuity to cast and mould them in such shape and huge size and the articles are a sure pointer to the culture and civilisation that once existed in these parts of the country.
Another possibility is that the vessels had been taken out by the insitution for polishing and transit to another place for safe keeping. If that is happening it will be most cheering piece of news for lovers of artefacts. Also bothering me is the question whether they simply had been brought for a physical inspection and return to their original abode.
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