Many an area is known for its special product. If Tirunelveli is known for Halwa and Manapparai for ‘murukku,’ Pathamadai is known for its ‘paai’ – mats – woven with special kind of grass known as ‘korai’ in Tamil.

While paai is the speciality of Pathamadai, the special of speciality is the mat known as ‘pattup paai’. Pattup paai has a long tradition of over 500 years. There was a time that parents used to include a pair these mats in the items of gift that they would give to the bride at the time of her marriage. These mats were used as door and window curtains and also as table spreads, apart from their main purpose of their use as floor-spreads, to sleep on. But that is becoming history now.

There are several families who are engaged in weaving these mats, traditionally. ‘Our ancestors have made special mats that were used in the coronation of Queen Elizabeth,’ they beam with fond memories. The spread of consumerism has introduced newer and newer products that have almost replaced these mats and there is virtually no market for them now.

There was an exhibition recently of these speciality mats in Chennai, held under the auspices of two organisations Manasthala and Faces, to inform the public on the quality of these mats and to create awareness among them to patronise  what comes down to us from our rich heritage. Apart from the exhibition, these organisations also conducted a workshop for training children on making pattup paai.

‘Around 17 children were trained in mat weaving, in the workshop. It was our aim to keep our children informed of the speciality of these mats and to create an interest in them to learn the intricacies of the art,’ said Kalyani, founder of Manasthala. There was no commercial motive behind organising the workshop, she added. ‘We brought traditional workers from Pathamadai and enabled the Chennai children to learn this art from them. The children learned something very useful and the workers got paid for the service. We are doubly happy that we could be of service to both. We are also making arrangements to enable these children to make gainful use of the training they received in this workshop.’

We understood from Devaraj, a senior official of Faces, that there are two kinds of korai grass. One for the ordinary mats and the other for making pattup paai. The grass for making pattup paai grows in Thamirabarani riverbank. There are separate plantations to grow this grass professionally in Karur, Trichy, Thanjavur and Musiri.

Faces has been engaged in making and marketing pattup paai from 1995. They had difficulties in co-ordinating the traditional weavers. Only three families joined hands with Faces. There are fifteen such families now,  apart from the increase in the demand for pattup paai.

The market is now flooded with articles of the West and our people are moving away from our tradition. The Pathamadai pattup paai is facing the same kind of stiff competition and are losing their ground. It is commendable that organisations like Manasthala and Faces have taken it upon themselves to protect this traditional item from being blotted out from the market.

Saravanan
translated by Hari Krishnan