Carpenter, Smith, and Shepherd, 1911
From Life in an Indian Village by T. Ramakrishna, 1911.
From: 1911 C.E. To: 1911 C.E.
Location: Kelambakkam, Chennai, India
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From Life in an Indian Village by T. Ramakrishna, 1911.
Next comes the carpenter Soobroya Acharry. His business is to make ploughs, (Indian ploughs are made of wood with an iron bar fixed to the end) and all sorts of wooden implements required for the purpose of cultivation. He has to make carts and boxes and assist the villagers in the construction of houses. The village carpenter’s work is not such as would excite the admiration of the beholder or be considered worthy of being shown at an exhibition. It is a plain, rough kind of work just good enough to answer the purpose intended. Soobroya Acharry has also to make for the villagers pestles and a number of wooden instruments required for daily use.
After Soobroya Acharry comes Shunmugam, the blacksmith of the village, who is required to do his portion of the work in the construction of houses and in the making of agricultural and other implements. He has to make axes for hewing down trees, sickles with which to reap corn, spades, crowbars, and a number of other useful and necessary things. From the above it will be seen that the carpenter and the blacksmith are very useful members of the community, and that their services are often called into requisition by the villagers.
Another very important and useful member of the community is Gopaula Pillai, the ideiyan or shepherd. He owns a number of cows and buffaloes and supplies the villages with ghee (clarified butter), milk and curds; he also looks after their cattle. He is a very busy man. He rises early in the morning and goes to the houses of the villagers to milk their cows, and returns at about nine o’clock. In the meantime, his wife Seeta, who is a good model of a busy helpmate, is engaged in cleansing the cattle-shed, milking her own cows and buffaloes, churning butter and selling milk and curds. As soon as the cowherd comes home, he takes his canji (boiled rice and water). He then goes away with the cattle of the village to the grazing fields.
There are some fine pasture lands at a distance of about two miles from Kélambakam where the cowherds and shepherds of other villages meet our ideiyan friend, Gopaula Pillai. There, while the cattle graze, these simple men beguile their time under the shade of some tree in innocent talk or in some game. The cowherd returns with the cattle to the village at dusk and goes again to the houses of such villagers as have cows, to milk them. He returns home at about eight at night, and after taking supper enjoys a well-earned sleep.
Ramakrishna, T. Life in an Indian Village. T. Fisher Unwin, 1911.
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