aiyanar horse

8/8/2019 Aiyanar Horse

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Article by Ron du Bois

Photos by Ron du Bois, 1980, unless otherwise stated.

Massive terracotta horses have been built by Tamil villagers in south India

for thousands of years. Stephen Inglis states that "technically they are themost ambitious achievements in clay found in India and by any surveyprobably the largest hollow clay images to be created anywhere" (1).

Massive terracotta Horse.Environs of Puthur,Tamilnadu, South India. Thisfifty year old massive clayimage was fired on site.

Because the fired surfacesare porous a solution ofoxides used as colorants areeasily absorbed and thusmade durable. Fifty yearshave altered them onlyslightly. Although the annualrains soak the porous clay, noharm results becauseTamilnadu never freezes. Inother climates water

penetrating the clay couldfreeze and expand causingdisintegration within aseason.Created from sacred templeground, this horse nowstands purified by fire. Nocracking or breakage due totrapped air or moistureoccurred. The non-ceramicdecoration of calcium

carbonate and waterpenetrates the porous clayand thus becomes durable.Rain and subsequent freezingweather could spell the thedisintegration of suchmassive clay images within aseason...but the temperature
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in Tamilnadu is always warm,and thus the images stand forgenerations.

The methods used to construct and to fire images nine to fifteen feet or more

in height are unique in ceramic history and of unusual interest to clayspecialists. They differ dramatically from the images of horses and soldiersrecently excavated in China, in that they are larger than life-size and fired insitu. Not only is the size impressive, but the proportions and embellishmentare superb. These works are created by a caste of hereditary potter/priestswho are products and heirs of an ancient tradition in which clay and religionare inseparably linked.

This massive terracottaAiyanar horse image wasbuilt around 1955. It isdistinctive for its high reliefmodeling. Much the originalwhite wash is still extant.

The high relief elements aretechnically possible becausecopious amounts of temper(rice straw) are mixed in theclay.

Detail of reliefmodeling, 18inches high,on neck ofancient

Aiyanarterracottahorse.Environs of

Puthur, near Chidambarum,Tamilnadu, India.
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Yet because the images are built in remote village shrines they have beenvirtually ignored by scholars. As Inglis observes, "visitors to Tamil Nadu maycatch a glimpse of such images from the window of a bus or train yet aninterest once aroused is difficult to pursue.

Katervil, master craftsman in clay, is knownthroughout the region as a specialist for his skillsin building votive terracotta horse images as wellas those built in cement. He can make every typeof utilitarian pottery as well. Heir to an ancienttradition, his ancestors have practiced similar skillsfor thousands of years. He is a "velar", or Tamilpotter-priest. Here he rests beneath the breast ofof the horse on which he has just completed the

modeling of "Yallee", spirit guide, protector of Aiyanar, able tosee in all directions, able to see into the future. Mystical skills

enable him to guide the horse safely.

Tamil people of the cities know little of them and for the ordinary villagepeople, work on such images involves skills and a sacred ritual of which theyhave little knowledge. The work is almost never seen in big towns or cities,sold in fairs, or otherwise displayed. Although some attention has been givenby scholars to the religious complex in which they playa part, informationabout massive images and the craftsmen who build them is not to be foundin the literature on south India" (2).

In May, 1980, as an Indo-American Fellow, I was able to observe at first hand,

in remote and abandoned village shrines, ancient examples of these massiveterracotta horses "with fiercely noble heads standing ready to carry god ordemon" (3). As I looked at them, numerous questions came to mind: How oldwere they? Who made them? What was their purpose? Were they still beingmade? How could such huge clay images be fired? How could passages ofclay varying in thickness from two to sixteen inches be dried and firedwithout mishap of any kind?

The answers to these questions would shed new light on the methods usedin the past by the Etruscans, the Chinese, and pre-Columbian peoples tocreate such larger-than-life terracotta images. The craftsmen who made

them clearly used methods of construction and firing outside the spectrum ofWestern ceramic skills and processes. Few, if any clay specialists in theWestern world would attempt to build and fire on-site ceramic sculpture ofsuch monumental scale.

Through the unfailing support of Ray Meeker and Deborah Smith of theGolden Bridge Pottery in Pondicherry, I found some important answers.


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Former students of Susan Peterson, they are the only American potterssuccessfully producing hand-thrown stoneware in India at present.

Their plan of organization made the documentation possible. Intrigued withthe projected filming of the construction of an Aiyanar horse, they offered

me the use of their recently purchased jeep to search for Aiyanar shrines andpotters. The three of us, together with Ray's assistant, Ratchagar, to serve astranslator, set out on a four-wheel drive field trip.

On a single day's outing, we sighted five Aiyanar shrines in the outskirts ofChidambaram. Each of the sites held one or more terracotta horses, each tento twelve feet high constructed within the last one hundred years. Thesurface decoration, in most cases, had weathered away and the patinaindicated considerable age. There was nothing to indicate the date or thenames of either the potters or donors. Such facts were never recorded.

This ancient terra cotta horsewas built and fired on sitesome one hundred years ago.It measures over ten feet inheight. The high relief imageson the neck of the horseimage were modeled of claywith an admixture of straw.The images symbolize spiritattendants who ride withAiyanar at night to guard the

village boundary.Detail of ancient horse (withvillager standing in front):The high relief images on theneck of the horse weremodeled with the solid claymixture. They symbolizespirit attendants who ridewith Aiyanar at night toguard the village boundary.About 100 years old, four

massive terra cotta horsesconstructed and fired on sitestand in a seeminglyabandoned Aiyanar shrine.
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Were such horses still being built? Thanks to my friends' fluency in Tamil wesoon found a pottery community reputed to have horse- building skills in thevillage of Puthur, sixteen kilometers from Chidambaram. When we found theearth and thatch dwellings of the potters, we discovered an Aiyanar shrinenearby complete with a huge standing terracotta horse, which the potters

claimed was more than one hundred years old. Near the older form was amore recent horse built of cement, a material that has now almostcompletely replaced clay as the medium for shaping ritual images. To thewest stood a large cement image of Aiyanar and to the south, a shrinehoused a much smaller image flanked by two consorts. The shrine is inactive use. Each evening some forty villagers worship there, the womentouching their foreheads to the ground and the men prostrating themselvescompletely.

The indigenous religious system, involving the belief in a male deity, at oncehero, protector, companion, and councilor, is Dravidian. It predates by

centuries the Aryan introduction of Hinduism with its complex pantheon ofdeities in the second millennium B.C. During the Middle Ages, in order toupgrade and legitimize Aiyanar through association with mainline Hinduism,devotees evolved the story of his birth as a son of Shiva and Vishnu (in theform of a beautiful woman). Aiyanar helps on many important occasions inlife -to choose a bride or groom, to cure sickness, or to punish a wrongdoer.He holds a metal sword in his hand on which devotees thrust papermessages stating their various problems. Often the solutions are revealed indreams.

S. Kalia Perumalwas animportantmember of the

four man crewwhoconstructed thehorse.

This potter's wifestanding before theshrine is in a state oftrance. The closer

presence of Aiyanar andthe forces of villagedeities stimulate statesof possession. For sometheir bodies temporarilybecome containers ofthe divine.
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We learned that the last large Aiyanar horse was commissioned more thantwenty years ago. But the potters assured us they still knew how to buildone. Would they do it? Would they accept a commission from a non-Hindu - aforeigner? I was impressed with the potters and had a genuine sympathy andliking for Aiyanar and his shrines. Unlike Hindu temples, his shrines were

always located in secluded country areas in which trees were a necessaryand auspicious component. They were restrained-the sculptural quality ofthe clay or cement images was stable and impressive. Perhaps the potterswere moved by my positive attitude and interest in Aiyanar; at any rate, theydecided to accept the commission. They agreed to build a horse nine feethigh in twenty days; it was to be situated next to the existing horses. Theyquoted a price of 500 rupees. After haggling, they reduced the figure to 400rupees- ($48.00) - a good price by Indian standards but by Westernstandards extremely low when one considers that four or five men wouldwork for twenty days to complete the commission.

Day One:They knew their business. On Monday, May 26, 1980, a puja (ritual) was heldto ensure the success of the project. To consecrate the ground on which thehorse was to be built, the potters encircled the area using the bloodstreaming from the neck of a decapitated rooster. Coconut halves wereplaced to each side of the area. Liquor, an essential ritualistic ingredient, waspresent although Tamil Nadu is a "dry" state. Technically, liquor is illegal butthis was "home brew," which escaped official scrutiny. Food offerings toAiyanar completed the ritual. Secure in the assurance that Aiyanar was nowcompanion to the project, the potters began construction.

The preparation of the clay had taken place the day before. A circular earthpit about four feet in diameter served as a mixing trough. One partsedimentary earthenware is mixed with one part earthenware topsoil.Although fine-grained, it contains silt. To this enough water is added toproduce a medium-viscosity slurry. The potters knew this clay would fail as amedium for building large sculpture. Large quantities of non-plasticingredients are essential to prevent shrinkage and hence cracking, as well asto permit thick passages of clay. The non-plastic ingredients consist of threeparts rice hulls and approximately one part (by volume) of three-to-four-inchlengths of rice straw. The potters added this to the earthenware slurry andmixed it by foot to produce a medium soft mixture possessing all the

qualities of a "castable."


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First Day of Construction.Aiyanar Shrine, Puthur,Tamilnadu, South India, 1980.Holes 12" deep and 12" widewere excavated in the groundpossible to relieve air pressureduring firing. Katervil applies aheavy coil of clay with anadmixture of rice straw toform the "hooves", the first

stage in the construction of amassive terracotta horse.These constitute the firstprocedures in the constructionof a massive Aiyanar horseimage. When completed it willstand ten feet high. In thebackground stands an ancientterracotta horse said to be 100years old.

Large coils of this material were used to form rings around previouslyinscribed twelve-inch circles on the ground marking the four "hoofs" of thehorse. A second coil of clay joined to the initial ring extended the diameter tosixteen inches. Four of these clay rings were formed to establish the four"hoofs" of the horse's legs. This accomplished, a potter, using a metalexcavating tool, dug holes approximately twelve inches deep inside eachring of clay. A potter set a wooden pole about six feet high inside one holeand held it while a colleague quickly filled the entire hole with clay thussupporting the pole in a vertical position. In a similar fashion, vertical poleswere set in the three remaining holes. Each wooden pole, therefore, wassupported by a solid mass of clay mixture about sixteen inches across andtwelve inches deep. Without the use of rice hulls and straw such passageswould shrink and crack.

These ingredients are the major part of the mixture by volume and areessential to this type of monumental clay construction. The last part to be
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constructed was a clay base for the central rectangular support, 24" x 24".This completed the first day's work. Nothing further could be done until themoist clay mixture stiffened.

The potters spent their time in the afternoon preparing ropes made of rice

straw. Wrapped around the wooden uprights these ropes create acompressible internal support system for the application of about a four-inchwall of clay thereby eliminating any possibility of the clay cracking as it driesand contracts.

Woman Creating a Colam. Colams areritual diagrams or drawings that welcomethe dawn, or gods to their festivals. Theyillustrate the power of geometricity tocreate a force field or maze by whichuntoward forces are confused and thus

kept at bay. Mostly women create thegeometric designs with rice flour. Colams

celebrate the impermanence of art and art as an essential aspectof daily devotion. Their beauty of form and endless variety are atonce decoration and ritual.

Day Two:On the morning of the second day of construction the potters completed thetask of winding the straw ropes around the four wooden uprights. They thenapplied a four-inch wall of clay so that four large tubes about 40 inches tallwere formed, each serving as a metaphorical leg. Next, four vertical uprights

were fixed at the inside comer of the base of the central rectangular supportpreviously completed. Straw ropes were wound around them to create anarmature for a thick application of clay. The potters worked surely andquickly in spite of a 112 degree Fahrenheit temperature. Descendants ofgenerations of clay craftsmen, they have learned the skills from childhoodand are concerned only with the work at hand, In the afternoon theycompleted the front and rear legs and the central rectangular support. Thefront legs now stood as a single unit 44 inches high, 38 inches wide, and 17inches across, measured at the top center. By fixing wooden supports to thewooden uprights, the potters created a horizontal passage of clay thatbridged the two front and rear legs. The clay mixture was laid over and

under these supports to create a level horizontal surface. This completed,nothing more could be done until the horizontal passages of clay stiffened.


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The legs of the horseare constructed of fourwooden poles, ricestraw, and rope. Clayslurry is applied over all.The potters bridged thefront and rear legs.

The two front legsare now stiffened.Katervil uses awooden supportcovered with ricestraw to form acompressibleinternal support. As

the thick claypassages dry andshrink the internalstraw supportcompresses toprevent cracking.

Day Three:On the morning of the third day, additional wood supports were placedhorizontally to connect the front legs to the central support and. then to therear legs' unit. The potters molded the horse's under-belly by laying "gobs"

of the clay directly on the wood supports (both above and underneath); thisprocess produced a slab four inches thick, seven feet, ten inches long, andthirty-four inches wide! Such a feat was possible only because of the woodeninternal support system.

Third Day of Construction. To bridge thepillars forming the legs and the centralsupport unit clay was applied overhorizontal lengths of wood wrapped withrice straw held in place with rope. Toprevent cracking rice straw is essentialas an internal support because it
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compresses as the clay dries andshrinks. Four wooden poles wound withrope and rice straw formed an internalsupport on which clay was applied toform the central support unit. The height

of all three units is three feet, eightinches.

After the burning rays of the sun had stiffened the slab, the potters nextadded coils of clay to form the curve of the belly, a process which addedseven inches to the height. They tapered the edge of the final coil. When theclay was stiff, the diagonal slant provided a broader surface and hence agood join for the next application of clay.

Day Four: In the afternoon the potters, using thick gobs of the basic claymixture, modeled the figure of the guardian (or groom) of Aiyanar's horse

directly on the surface of the central support form.

The modeling of the image of Aiyanar's groom starts with massivegobs of the clay mixture and will be finished with a levigated slipmixed with sand. This older, mustached image symbolizes theneither aspects of the deity's nature. Katervil's deft fingers bring theimage to life and vitality. Potter-priest and master clay craftsman ofboth utilitarian and sculptural forms, he models the groom ofAiyanar with thick gobs of clay on the central support of a massiveAiyanar horse image. He, poses beside the completed form whichtook two hours to complete.

An older, moustachedimage on the opposite sideof the central supportcolumn symbolizes theneither aspects ofAiyanar's nature...darkand problematic. The

smooth, ever youthful groom seen heresymbolizes his divine nature.
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Day Six: lengths of bamboo are placed inside the figure to complementexterior supports.

Katervil laid wooden stickshorizontally to connect the

front legs, central supportcolumn and rear legs. Heapplied the clay mixturearound these supports toform a horizontal slab,

thirty-four inches wide by seven feet teninches long.

Horizontal lengths of bamboo (one visible on the top interiorwall) are used to support the walls and to reduce accidentaldamage by children or cows. Because the shrine is sacrosanct

there is no intentional vandalism.

Some of the passages were four inches thick, attesting to thenon-plastic nature of the basic clay mixture. An application ofpure clay over the coarse basic clay followed, and detailing wasdone with fingers and a wooden modeling tool. The modeling

skills are of a high order and result in a figure with remarkable spring andincipient energy.

Katervil and two assistants are shown in process of handmodeling in high relief the bells associated with Hindu and somevillage deities. In the modeling of the jewels, bells, and otherdecorative details, the intersection of the potter's skills and thecommon elements of Indian design are seen. The decorativeclay bands are identical to those applied to mounts on greattemples by stone carvers, and to processional mounts anddecorative architecture by wood workers...the skills of thegarland and harness maker all flow behind the potter's skill.
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Ron du Bois and 16mmfilm camera. AiyanarShrine, Puthur,Tamilnadu, South India,1980. An attendantholds an umbrella overthe camera to protect itfrom the blistering sun.

At 114 degrees F., thecamera could becomeburning hot and thecanister of film insideruined. A homemadeevaporative cooler wasdevised to store andsave the 16mm filmcanisters from damage.They were kept dry byplacing them a lidded

plastic container. This inturn was placed within alarge terracotta vessel.Sand poured around theplastic storage containerwas then watered to coolthe film by evaporation.

7th Day of Construction.Ron du Bois, IndoAmerican Fellow, withmassive terracottahorse in process ofconstruction. The finalheight of the massivesculpture was nine feet,

ten inches. An ancientterracotta horse builtover 100 years ago isseen in the background.Photo by Ray Meeker,1980.

The basic clay mixture is similar to what, in the West, is considered to be a"castable" -a clay body suitable for bricks, refractory linings, or kilnconstruction but rarely considered as suitable for ceramic sculpture. Again,

to the Western craftsman, a kiln for firing ceramic sculpture would appearessential. As a result he limits himself to forms that can be lifted and movedinto a kiln. The idea of firing "in situ" at the site of construction rather than ina studio/workshop has never been the practice. Permanent kilns, plumbingand wiring for gas, oil, or electricity have all been part of the Westernparadigm - yet the Etruscans, pre-Columbians, Africans, and the potter-priests of India as well all constructed temporary clay walls for on-site firingof monumental ceramic forms.
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Only a portion of theback form is closed. Toform the tail a wireserves to support solidmasses of the soft claymixture.

The back is thencompletely closed by amassive clay slabsupported by shardsplaced on sticks withinthe horse.

A red slip or sigillatta is applied toseal and to smooth the course

surface. The length of the horse isthirteen hands, the height of bothtorso and legs is each four hands.The length of the still to be builtneck will be four and one-halfhands. These proportions passedfrom father to son may be adjustedonly slightly depending on thejudgment of the team leader.The face on the breast of the horseis Yallee...it's fierce gaze guides the

god on his nightly rides. Developedover the ages this image is sharedwith the Hindu art of large townsand cities, but is now part of thevillage modeling tradition. Able tosee in all directions, able to see intothefuture. Because of this he guidesthe horse safely

Day Nine: The entire neck, saddle and tail are complete.

Right: To prevent sagging awooden brace was used tosupport the mass of soft clayused to form the head. It isnow the 10th morning andthe clay has stiffenedovernight. The potters work
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to complete the final details -eyes, ears, bridle, mouth,teeth and tongue.

Day Twelve: Moist earth chopped from an adjacent drainage ditch was

carried by baskets to the construction site to form the wall for an "openField" firing. At a height of 18 inches it is left to stiffen before adding moreearth. A 10 inch wall thickness is maintained until the final height of five feetis attained.

Right: The image peeks out, almost completelycovered by earth, clay vessels, wood, dung, andstraw. As the wall grows around the image, theimage of the beast inside is felt. The horseremains an almost mythical creature in SouthIndia ...imported in small numbers for the ancientkings, and now transformed from clay into themount of a god.

A slurry made from ditch mud and water iscarried in baskets and poured over thestraw...five men take only twenty minutes tospread the thick slip over the entire surface andto overlap the clay wall. The fire is startedthrough a firehole igniting the layers of straw,

dung and wood that surround and support thefigure.

Day Fourteen: The firing is completed within three hours.
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The potters brought the project to a conclusion with a final puja (religiousceremony) and a "bringing to life" of the successfully fired and decoratedhorse. It is hoped that these notes and photographs will benefit Westerncraftsmen and serve to enhance internationally the most impressive butlittle-known skills of Indian potters.

In southern districts of Tamilnadu, almost all villages have the Ayyanar

(another form of Lord Aiyappa in Hindu Mythology) or Karuppasamy (a Deityworshipped as a Guardian for Villages) temples. In Such temples the ClayHorses are placed and worshipped by the people as it is considered as aVehicle of Lord Ayyanar. There are numerous Clay horses in Sree SiraiMeetaAyyanar, Sree Seguttaiyanar temples in M.Soorakkudi, a village of 50-Kmsaway from Madurai. It has very famous Festival of carrying such horses fromthe place where they built to the temples in the months of May/June Everyyear.

Thus India leads the world for Places of traditional Culture and HeritageMonuments.

Footnotes:

1-2 Stephen R. Inglis, "Night Riders: Massive Temple Figures of RuralTamil Nadu, in V. Vijayavenugopala (ed.) A Festschrift for Prof. M.Shanmugam Pillai, Madurai University Press, 1980.

3 Stella Kramrisch, Unknown India: Ritual Art in Tribe and Village.Philadelphia Museum of Art.
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Ron du Bois, an emeritus professor of art, taught ceramics and studio art atOklahoma State University, USA. He was Fulbright professor to Korea in

1973-74, where he taught ceramics at three Korean universities. His awardwinning documentary, The Working Processes of the Korean Folk Potter, wasfilmed at that time. In 1979-80, du Bois traveled extensively in India as a1979-80 Indo-American fellow to research and document the work of Indianpotters. Among other projects he filmed the entire construction of perhapsthe last massive terracotta horse to be built in India. The documentary, "TheWorking Processes of the Potters of India: Massive terracotta HorseConstruction" was completed under the auspices of the National Endowmentfor the Humanities and deals with the subject matter of this article. In 1987,du Bois was awarded a 10 month Fulbright Senior Research Scholar grant,African Regional Research program, to research and document Nigerian

potters. For information on his POTTERS OF THE WORLD FILM/VIDEO SERIEScontact: Ron du Bois, Professor Emeritus,http://www.angelfire.com/ok2/dubois, 612 S. Kings St., Stillwater, OK 74074,(405) 377-2524, email: [email protected], fax: 1-405-372-5023

Source: www.ceramicstoday.com
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