Place · temple & craft town · India
Aranmula
The Pathanamthitta cultural landscape at Aranmula in Pathanamthitta district, Kerala — famed for three distinct traditions: the 400-year-old Aranmula Kannadi (metal mirror) craft tradition, the Aranmula Parthasarathy temple (one of the 108 Divya Desams, 10-century Chera period), and the Aranmula Uthrattathi Vallamkali (snake-boat race, held each September during the Onam season). The Aranmula Kannadi is made from a secret bronze alloy (said to be about 70% copper, 30% tin plus traces of lead) by only four Vishwakarma families in the village — polished to achieve mirror-perfect reflection without a glass coating. The Aranmula metal mirror is Kerala's GI-tagged product (2004) and features in traditional Kerala wedding rituals. The snake-boat race is one of Kerala's oldest surviving water sports. UNESCO's Living Human Treasures recognises the mirror craftsmen.
- Function
- Trade & production
- Tradition
- Kerala cultural and Indian Ocean history
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 9.340, 76.680
Connections (1)
- Craft tradition ofAraṇmuḷa kaṇṇāṭi
The mirror is made by a small number of families at Aranmula, the Pamba-side village whose Parthasarathy temple and boat race already gave it a name, and it is the temple settlement that explains the craft: the metalworkers were brought in to serve the shrine and stayed. The tin-copper alloy proportion has never been published, the moulds are made from local river silt, and a single mirror can take a fortnight to polish.
Sources
Wikipedia, “Aranmula”. Archaeological Survey of India and State Archaeology monument records, and the standard regional literature.
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