Title : Aranmula Kannadi
Author (s) : Athira S Babu
Remya K R
Soney Anie Thomas
ARANMULA KANNADI
ANCIENT ! TRADITIONAL ! UNIQUE !
Aranmula is a small village in pathanamthitta district situated on the banks of river Pamba. Aranmula is famous for annual snake boat race and its metal mirrors – known as ‘Aranmula Knnadi’. Aranmula is fast turning into a cultural tourism centre in the State with growing number of foreign tourists visiting the place.
The Government of India and UNDP has selected 32 villages for Endogenous tourism Project. They selected only 2 villages from Kerala, Aranmula and Kumblangi. Endogenous tourism means protecting and promoting tourism oriented places and ensuring sustainability. Aranmula is declared as a HERITAGE VILLAGE of India by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH).Government of India and State Government are providing financial supports to promote tourism in Aranmula.They had given around 75 lakhs to Aranmula on which 10 lakhs are alloted for the promotional activities of Aranmula kannadi
Aranmula kannadi is a unique object because of its mysterious creation, unequalled beauty and this mirror is made up of metal not glass which is exclusive to Aranmula. The mirror is produced and sold in the same place itself.
The production of Aranmula metal mirror was commenced during the reign of Shri Anizham Tirunal Marthanda Varma, the king of erstwhile State of Travancore . The gold smith, stone smith and bronze smith who were brought in by the King of Pandalam from Sankarnkovil, near Tirunelvely in Tamilnadu for the works in Aranmula Parthasarathy Temple were insisted by the local king to make a new crown within three days .They made a crown. A portion of crown made with the combination of copper and tin was silver like color, brittle like glass and had a good quality of reflection. The craftsman noticed the reflection of crown and they developed a new method of producing metal mirror. . Traditionally the production technique is known only to few families and it has been handed down from father to son for generations. At present 7 families are producing these metal mirrors and they are having the patent right for producing this.They got the Geographical Indication (G.I) registration also.Geographical Indication registration is awarded for the cultural value, traditionality, uniqueness of production methods and is concentrated on a particular area.
The raw materials for the production of this metal mirrors are Copper and Tin. They procure the raw materials from the local market. These material are processed by them before using it. The major portion of cost is labor which is in fact a profit for them because labourers are the members of the family itself. All the works are done by humans only. No machines are using for making of aranmula mirror. It will take 4-5 days to complete a mirror and the metal combination for the mirror is very important. Out of the 10 mirrors, they will get only 6 without any diffect; all other 4 will be damaged and cannot be used. The original aranmula mirror is costly, because of its material cost and labor cost.
Price of this mirror varies according to the size, metal of the frame and design of the frame. Their product range varies from small ring mirrors to big luxury type mirrors. The price varies from Rs.350 to Rs.75000. The customers of these mirrors are domestic and foreign tourists.
They have a good sort of competitors who are producing low quality mirror which look very similar to Aranmula Kannadi. These duplicate mirrors are also made out of copper and tin but in a different proportion so that it will not be as brittle as original Aranmula kannadi and these low quality mirrors usually lasts for 6-9 months. These duplicates are arising as a threat for Aranmula Kannadi.If a customer wants to purchase the original mirror they have to approach the 7 units. Apart from this these mirrors are sold through Kairali handicrafts shops and in various exhibitions .But people are reluctant to buy from outside because they feel that will get cheated.
The Aranmula kannadi is having a good demand but they can not meet it because of the time factor and manpower requirement. In the last Olympics they had an order for 4000 mirrors which should be produced within 7 months. But they were not able to produce that much within 7 months.
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