The Art of Pottery

Most villages in Kerala have a community of potters called Kumbhara colony or manpathra nirmana community. In villages of Palakkad district, there are such colonies . The pottery is a skill and art which depicts the tradition and culture of Kerala. Because of the lower profit and high effort, today many of the youngsters are not coming up in their community for this job. So the art is on its exinct.At Ramassery village in Palakkad, there is such a community of potters who are still active. The village of Ramassery is famous for its Ramassery idly, a special preparation from this village.

The potter usually makes his pottery using clay collected from their nearby places or from where it is available. The raw clay is smoothened and made dough with water using hand. It is then placed in a pottery wheel, a wheel used to mold up the pottery urns to various shapes and size. With their hand and the pottery wheel, the clay clay turns into useful and beautiful pottery. The whole process is so amazing to see. After making a pot in this way, it is separated from the wheel using a thin stick. The next step is to harden the clay by placing it in a kiln for baking. They are kept for two – three days for hardening. The fully completed pots are sold directly or through shops.