Young master craftsman Murukan R was the first to resume work after the Pamba decimated the entire 'Aranmula Kannadi' trade along its banks. Murukan gathered his workers and began work just a week after the river pulled back.
Even those in his trade were surprised. “What was there for him to start work on,” asked Balan, a craftsman's assistant at Aranmula, a temple town near Kozhencherry in Pathanamthitta district. Both Murukan's workshops, like the rest in the area, were fully destroyed. The unique tools used in the making of the mirrors – the 300-odd mud moulds and the 100-odd square wood blocks - were washed away. “There was nothing to be sold even,” Balan said. The 45 Aranmula mirrors Murukan had in his shop – framed, beaded, polished and ready to be sold, and each costing between Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 - were also swept away by a river running amok.
Two secrets
He might have lost everything but Murukan said he was in possession of two secrets. One was the special ratio in which tin and copper are mixed to make a bronze-like alloy. “It is a 500-year-old secret, handed down by our forefathers. It is not something even the Pamba can take away from me,” Murukan said. At least 10 other traditional craftsmen in the area know the secret. Aranmula mirror is so unique to the area that it had been given UNESCO's GI (geographical indication) tag, which makes registered artisans in Aranmula the sole custodians of 'Aranmula Kannadi'.
But what made Murukan alone resume work just a week after the flood was a secret others were not willing to believe. “Despite the promises, I knew the government was not going to do anything for us. Our craft is already dying and we alone can prevent it from total destruction,” he said. When Onmanorama visited his shop on September 21, 10 polished mirrors were already displayed in the showcase that faced the road leading to the Aranmula Parthasarathi temple.
Inspired, two other craftsmen in the area have started to pick up the threads. Others are still waiting for the promised government supervision. “The District Industrial Centre has drawn up a list of our losses,” said Narayanan, a craftsman. “But the panchayat and village officials say that a decision on compensation for those who had lost their workshops was yet to be taken,” he said. It is estimated that the mirror craftsmen have together suffered a loss of nearly Rs 2 crore.
Bun-shaped moulds
Murukan took a small amount as loan from a local lender, and also pawned all his wife's jewellery. “She was fine with it as this craft is our only means of living,” he said. The larger issue for him was finding the right kind of mud to create the moulds. “It is the clay from the paddy fields around Aranmula that we use to make moulds. But now the river has deposited a thick layer of slush over the paddy fields. This new layer of clay is unsuitable for our moulds,” Murukan said. Still, he has managed to find the right amount of clay to make 20 moulds.
These moulds are bun-shaped disks, and they are pressed together to form a larger mould. Nonetheless, the flat sides of the halves will not touch each other. There will be a narrow space, just enough for an ant to crawl through, in between. The round edge will be closed using mud. The molten alloy created by mixing tin and copper in a unique ratio is then poured into this narrow space through a mud funnel created at one edge of the mould. The entire mould is heated for some time, and left to cool. After a day, the two halves of the larger mould are removed and a circular metal that is almost dark in colour is taken out. (There are different moulds for different sizes.)
This circular metal is then stuck, using wax extracted from medicinal herbs, on the flat surface of a square wooden block with a handle on top. Then, a worker starts scraping the metal on a hard sheet until it achieves a near-golden glow. It can even take a day or two to achieve perfection. The wood block will be heated to extract the Aranmula mirror, which will then be framed in various designs.
Spitting image
It is said that, unlike a normal mirror, an Aranmula mirror provides the spitting image of the person looking into it. An ordinary mirror is made of glass with a reflective coating at the other side. So the light first permeates the surface and gets reflected only when it touches the coated side at the back. An element of refraction (a deviation in the light ray's trajectory as it passes though the glass medium) distorts the image. In the case of the Aranmula mirror, the light reflects right from the upper surface.
A small experiment will demonstrate the difference. Place the edge of one's index finger on top of an ordinary mirror. There will be a small gap in between the finger edge and its image. Do this on an Aranmula mirror. The gap will be erased.
