Potters optimistic about bright prospects ahead of Karthigai Deepam this year

Potters in and around Thanjavur are gearing up for an increase in sales of the agal vilakku, or clay lamps, ahead of the Karthigai Deepam festival set to be celebrated in early December this year.

“We are hoping to get most of the stock fired in kilns before the onset of winter rains, so that customers can buy our lamps in time for Karthigai Deepam. Last year, heavy unseasonable rains hit sales badly,” Arivalagan, a third generation pottery artisan, told The Hindu.

Mr. Arivalagan, 20, is a college student and has been helping his father at the family’s pottery unit in Thanjavur since childhood.

There are around 1,000 families involved in pottery and allied crafts in Thanjavur. The lamps, which cost between ₹3 and ₹100 depending on their design, are made with a mixture of clay, sand, and binding powder. The mixture is manually kneaded and left to cure for a few days.

For mass production, many potters use hydraulic press machines. However, Thanjavur’s artisans prefer manual processes. “It takes at least a week for the clay mixture to be ready for use. We make 1,000 to 1,500 small lamps in a day by hand. For Karthigai Deepam, we make sara vilakku (hanging lamps) and thattu vilakku (lamps embedded in a terracotta plate),” said Mr. Arivalagan.

Potters said that finding kilns to fire their lamps had become difficult because of the rise in the cost of raw material. “We usually wait until all our stock is ready before setting up the kiln. In this too, a large number of lamps get damaged and cannot be used further,” said an artisan.

Ahead of the festival, wholesale buyers throng the Keelavasal market to buy directly from artisans. “We have had a slower start to business this year as unsold lamps from 2024 are still waiting on the shelves,” said Mr. Arivalagan.