Indigenous craft gets international appeal

CHENNAI:  Terracotta prayer dolls are a common sight in Tamil Nadu’s temples. From its origins as an offering to the gods in exchange for the granting of wishes to its presence in homes as decor items and tourist collectibles, they have come a long way. The forms are many — baby dolls, bull dolls and doll houses — depending on what the devotee might wish for, but the most common remains the horse doll. Shedding light on their origins, the craft and their significance as an art form was architect and multidisciplinary designer Balamurali Kumaraswamy at an online talk titled Puravi – the Horse Doll, organised by INTACH Chennai Chapter.

“Horse dolls are given as offerings to temples dedicated to the deities Ayyanaar or Karuppuswamy, believed to be sons of Lord Shiva, and they are often found in temples bordering the peripheries of a village, since they’re seen as guardians of the village,” said Kumaraswamy. Other deities — Periyannan, Chinnayyan etc. often local warriors or chieftains who rise to mythical status among the people — are also given these offerings. The horse being their vehicle and the sickle being their weapon, the latter is also commonly offered, he added.

The practice is prevalent through many areas of Tamil Nadu, though Kumaraswamy restricted his research to the practice around the Chettinad areas. The samples chosen for the study came from three temples, all of them dedicated to Ayyanaar.

The origin story
Like most religious rituals, there’s a mythical story attached to the practice of terracotta doll making. The legend is that a kumbham or copper casket arrived at a village through a river. In villages without rivers, the kumbham is believed to have emerged from a lake or pond. Whoever came into contact with the casket was possessed by the spirits and began to utter the word of the Gods. This voice later instructed the villagers to make such offerings to the Gods so as to please them.

The making
The ritual of doll making, which is held during the festive season in Tamil Nadu (Mid-October to February), begins with a ceremony called ‘Pidimann Kuduththal’, where the village head visits the site from where silt for the making of the dolls is collected, and places it on the potter’s head.

This tradition of doll making is also sustainable since the silt (called karambai mann) is collected from the edge of the water bodies so as to retain their depth. The collected silt is then pounded with the feet and mixed with water till it reaches a plastic consistency. It is then kept aside for a day, after which the potter starts working on it. The first to be made are the four legs of the horse. The making is moved indoors, to prevent the clay from the harsh sun. Slowly, layer by layer, the horse takes shape in the potter’s studio. Once the horse achieves its final shape, it is left to dry (indoors again). This might take a week or so, and the longer it is kept to dry, the stronger it becomes. 

This is followed by the baking process, where the doll is made to lie flat on the ground and covered with firewood and hay before being sealed with mud paste. After the baking starts the painting. Kann Thirappadhu is the last stage in the process, where final touches are made to the doll. The eyes are usually the last part to be painted. The whole process takes about 14 days.

After this, the doll is brought to the savukkai, the nodal point of any village where village gatherings, panchayat meetings and the like are conducted. The dolls made until then are lined up at this place, ready for the procession.

The last stage in the procession is kayir mattram where the doll is handed over to the temple. “Once installed, the dolls remain where they are. Several dolls dating back centuries can still be seen in these temples,” remarked Kumaraswamy.

Motif magic
The craft of terracotta doll-making is seldom taught formally; it is handed down from one generation to the other. While they are often custom made under commission for local patrons, a temple in Soorakkudi makes at least 100 dolls every year for clients, sometimes more, the only temple to mass produce terracotta dolls.

Terracotta horse dolls also come in varying sizes, starting from 9 inches and going all the way up to 10 feet. The mass produced ones are usually of 4’6” height. While the final style may vary, certain motifs remain common for all these terracotta horses. The reins, the crown and mane, large eyes and a half-open mouth. Some horses may have their tongues extended. For the torso, a mandatory element is the saddle, which is sometimes painted or shown in relief. When it comes to painting, the artist or patron generally has a free hand.

One can track the style in painting evolving over the centuries, even while sticking to the prescribed motifs. It is not unusual to see patterns inspired by ceramic ware imported from countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Burma, which were predominantly seen in Chettinad homes. The artist sought inspiration from what they saw around them. The degree of ornamentation may vary between horses, all of which depend on the artist’s or patron’s whim.

What is remarkable about these dolls is that, without standardised rules or measurements, their proportions remain more or less the same despite the varying sizes. “The larger dolls require a great deal of structural strength to remain stable, and the artisans manage to do it without relying on modern devices for measuring proportions and so on,” Kumaraswamy said.

With its emphasis on blocky forms, prominent lines, contrasting colours and movement, these terracotta horses have more in common with the international art movements of the past century than it does with other folk arts, he argued.