Traditional craftsmanship

Nachiarcoil Metalware

Nachiarcoil in Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu is famous for a light brown sand called vandal on the banks of the river Cauvery that is ideally suited for making moulds. Owing to the growing scarcity of copper, the bell-metal workers of the state have now switched to brass ware. Some of the articles cast are vases in different shapes, tumblers, water containers, ornamented spitoons, food cases, bells, candle stands, kerosene lamps, picnic carriers, and a large variety of lamps. Of these, a few items like tumblers, food cases and milk containers are in bell metal and the rest are in brass. A special jar with a cashew-nut design and named after it has become a kind of hallmark of Nachiarcoil.

Source: http://www.craftscouncilindia.org/crafts/crafts-tn.html

Contributed by: Vanitha and Team, CEE South

The Naga Shawl

Naga women are excellent weavers and this is reflected in the colourful chang woven by them. There are numerous traditions and beliefs associated with the weaving and wearing of this traditional dress. A chang cloth requires all the zigzag lines to fall uniformly, or else the young warrior wearing it may die a premature death. When a Konyak woman gets married she wears a shatni shawl which is preserved and used later only to wrap her dead body. Convention demands that a rongtu shawl be worn only if the mithun sacrifice has been carried out over three generations.

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