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Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c29: Chapter XVI. Mat Weaving and Dyeing

Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c29

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Chapter XVI. Mat Weaving and Dyeing

1. Mat Weaving by Kinnarayō

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THE well-known Dumbara mats, called *kalālaya* (Pl. XXXIV.), are made by men and women of the Kinnaraya caste, practically the lowest of Kandyan castes, excepting the Roḍiyo. The fibre of which the mats are made is *niyanda*, the bowstring hemp, *Sansevieria zeylanica*. The rounded green leaves of this common xerophytic plant are gathered, and scraped against a log (*niyanda pōruva*) with a wooden tool (*ge-valla*) shaped like a spokeshave. This scraping removes the fleshy part of the leaf, leaving the white fibre, which is oiled and brushed, and then ready for use almost immediately. Part of the material is left white, the rest dyed red, yellow, or black in the manner explained below.

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The warp thread (*kalal heḍa*) is spun like cotton on a spindle (*iḍḍa*) (as shown on the right of Plate IV). The weft elements are not spun at all, but consist of parallel fibres, of the width of the mat.

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The loom (Pl. IV.) is a low horizontal contrivance, something like the loom used in cotton weaving, but much more primitive. There is no *alvala*, or pit for the weaver's feet; the operator squats on the mat itself, supported by a few flat logs between it and the ground. The pattern is picked up with a weaver's lath (*vema*); this lath, having an eye at one end, seryes as a bodkin* with which to draw the weft threads through the warp. A sleay (*alu karala*) similar to the cotton weavers', but not suspended, is used to drive the weft home. The raising and separation of alternate warp threads to form a 'shed' is effected by a very primitive type of heddles (*veḷa-kaḍḍuva*). The loops of the heddles, through which the warp threads pass, do not move. Every alternate warp thread passes through a loop. The separation of alternate threads to form the shed, is effected by the movement of two wooden rods, placed on the far side of the tripod; of these rods one (*uttara-pata* or *konṭaliya*) rests on the warp, the other (*pannam-baṭe*) passes between alternate threads of it. Relative movement of these rods raises and separates alternate threads on the near side of the heddles. The warp is carried on two rods, *koṭṭa kūra* and *andina kaṇḍa*. The first of these, on the left in Pl. IV., is tied to a stouter rod (*heḍa kaṇḍa*), and this is fastened to sticks firmly driven into the ground. At the other end, the *andina kaṇḍa* is tightly strained by two cords (*kaḍu-pā-lanu*) attached to two posts (*kalāl-kaṇu*) in the ground. The heddles are supported by a tripod arrangement of sticks (*tun-pā kolle*), which is shifted along as the work progresses.

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The warp is laid (*dig-gahanava* or *heḍa lanava*) in two operations. The spun thread (*nal*) is first unwound from the spindle, then broken, and passed through the heddles and through the teeth of the sleay or reed; the short ends left projecting through the teeth are tied temporarily to avoid slipping out. The remainder of the warp is then laid to the required length, and the threads broken off and joined on to the short ends projecting through the heddles.

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When the weaving is finished the projecting ends of fibre at each end of the mat are turned up over a thread drawn tight along the edge (like a piping cord) and knotted each one to it by another thread which catches up each projecting end in a slip knot, forming a neat binding.

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∗ Called *heḍa liya* in the song quoted on p. 246.

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Mat weaving and dyeing

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Fig. 142. Mal-gaha (‘flower-tree’) pattern of Dumbara mat.

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The niyanda fibre is dyed red, yellow, and black as follows: the red colour is obtained by boiling the fibre with patangi (Caesalpinia sappan) wood, korakaha (Memecylon umbellatum) leaves and (?) gingelly oil or seeds; the yellow from a decoction of veni-vel (Coscinium fenestratum); the black with the help of gall nuts, aralu and bulu (Terminalia chebula and T. beleria). The dye fades considerably in a year or two. The Kinnarayō make also whips, fly-whisks, brooms and other objects of niyanda fibre. It is a material the use of which is confined to the Kinnarayō and Roḍiyō.

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Perfectly plain mats are called pannam kalāla; those decorated with birds, as is usually done, are kurullu kalāla; those with a variety of patterns are veḍa kalāla or veḍa peḍuru. The following names of patterns are in use, the first five being illustrated on Pl. XXXIV.: toran-petta, ratvatte-alaṅkaraya, tārāva, tani-veḷ iruva, depota-lanuva, tārakā-petta, pannam-petta, tunpota lanuva, del-geṭa-lanuva, mal-gaha (Fig. 142), etc.; also animals, as birds, deer, cobras, elephants.

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A Kinnara song relating to mat weaving is given in the Appendix to this chapter.

2. Grass Mats and Baskets

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Grass mats (peḍuru) are made by the Pannayō or grass cutters, and also, but more particularly for their own use, by women of all castes, including govivamsa; and the making of decorated grass mats, dishes, and baskets was a domestic accomplishment which even the daughters of a chief did not despise. The mats here referred to are made from various grasses (hevan, Cyperus dehiscens, galẹhi, C. corymbosus, etc.) and palm leaves (indi-kola, Phoenix zeylanica; coconut; talipot, Corypha umbraculifera; and palmyra). The best are those made of indi-kola or hevan. Beside mats, baskets are made, also betel pouches (bulat malu), boxes, etc., of dyed grasses. The grass-weaver uses a grass knife having a point at one end, and a cutting edge at the other. A combined sickle and point for weaving, like that shown in Pl. XLV., 11, is called pan ketta; a tool consisting of a small straight blade only, and a point at the other end, is called hẹmbili-kaṭuva.

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Country housewives take a pride in the variety of patterns they may know, and their skill in making mats. The mats are in constant use for various purposes, especially for drying grains in the sun; they are also offered to any visitor to sit upon. An inferior, but not of low caste, would receive a mat to sit on, and would be insulted if it were not offered; an equal would be given a kolombuva; and a superior, especially a priest, a larger stool or chair, covered with a white cloth. In large country houses, a number of mats are kept in store, arranged in a ‘mat-rack’ (peḍuru-āna) on the wall.

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Dyeing

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Patangi (Caesalpinia sappan) is the most important dye used for grass. It produces a fine red. The proper process is rather complicated, and the practice varies in different districts. At Niriella (Sab.) I found the following methods in use:

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On the first day two handfuls of korakaha leaves (Memecylon umbellatum, Burm.) are pounded in a mortar, squeezed out in water by hand, and the resulting liquid, resembling pea soup, strained; two handfuls of patangi chips are added and the whole left to stand. On the second day the solution has become red. The patangi chips are removed, pounded, and replaced, and the whole boiled with the indi-kola which is to be dyed, tied up in little sheaves. The pot is allowed to cool and left till next day. On the third day leaves of bombu-kola (Symplocos spicata), hin-bōviṭiya (Osbeckia octandra), and korakaha, pieces of kebella bark (*Aporosa Lindleyana*), and a handful of chips of a yellow wood called *ahu* (*Morinda Mat tinctoria*), together with a small bundle of roots of *ratmulgas* (*Knoxia platycarpa*, Arn. var.) are pounded and added to the solution in which the *indi* leaves remain; the whole is boiled and then allowed to cool and stand till next day, when the leaves are removed and dried, after which they are ready for use.

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I have another receipt from Veḷimaḍa. To a pound of *gaḷehi* (another grass used for mats) take two pounds *korakaha* (or *veḷikaha*), half a pound of *kiribat-mul* (root of *Knoxia platycarpa*), two pounds *pataṅgi* chips, four cents’ weight of green saffron, half cent weight of lime, and four pots of pure water. Boil for three days with a strong fire in the morning, slow fire during the day, and again strong fire in evening and slow fire during the night.

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Fig. 143. Patterns of Kandyan grass mats (*peduru*) and dishes (*atul-pat*), etc. × 1/6. I., *Lanu-geṭa*; II., *Vaṅga-giriya* (the small squares are the two cells occupied by Prince Vessantara and Madrī Dēvī, see p. 41, above); III., *Bhayamkara*; IV., *Tarakā piyum*; V., *Haras raṭāva*; VI., *Idda mal piyum* or *katura mal*; VIII., *Diya reḷa*; IX., *Aṭa-peṭi mala*; X., *Mal-peṭṭa*; XI., *Gal-piyum*; XII., *Kolomba raṭāva* or *sevvaṇḍi* or *samadra* (*samudra*?) *mala*; XIII., *Pahaḍa mune* or *kiribat raṭāva*; four of these together called *piyum dahasaya*. The names in use in different districts vary considerably.

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Fig. 144. Svastika pattern from grass bag, Ambalaṅgoda.

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The pot must not be removed from the hearth during the three days, after which the dyed grass can be removed and dried in the shade.

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The colour thus produced is a fine fast red, which does indeed fade slowly, but lasts as long as the mat is likely to, which is more than can be said of the aniline dyes which have entirely replaced *pataṅgi* in many districts. Of these the magenta is unpleasant and the green very fugitive.

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The customary method of dyeing grasses or palm leaves black is to bury them in rice-field mud. The lower oxide of iron in the mud combines with the tannin in the grass to form tannate of iron (ink).

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A yellow dye is sometimes got from the young fruits of the *kaha* (*Bixa orellana*), or from saffron, which is pounded in a mortar, extracted with water, and boiled for an hour with the leaves to be dyed.

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It may be mentioned that the yellow dye of priests’ robes is obtained from the wood of the jak, in an extract of which the cloth to be dyed is soaked; the extract is sometimes boiled also with *bombu* leaves. The yellow dye is not permanent, but is easily renewed.

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The patterns of woven mats have regular names, many of which correspond to those used by cotton weavers. A number of common or characteristic patterns are illustrated in Fig. 143. Many of the names of patterns are mentioned in the humorous mat-weaving song quoted in the Appendix to this chapter.

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Mat weaving and dyeing

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3. TALIPOT LEAVES. The leaves of the talipot, or tala palm (*Corypha umbraculifera*) are put to many uses. Their preparation as ‘olas’ for writing upon is detailed above, on pp. 51, 52. The only other use needing reference here, is in combination with mica to make ceremonial processional fans (*sēsat*). An example of these is shown on Pl. LII., 3. In use, it would be mounted on a lacquered staff, and borne as shown on Pl. I., on the left-hand side of the upper picture.

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4. CANE. Cane or rattan (*vē-vel, Calamus Roxburghi*) is extensively used for making baskets, for stringing bed frames, and generally in place of rope. A typical *vel-peṭṭiya*, or cane basket, is shown on Pl. XLIIIA, 8. More common is a plain round basket with a flat lid, used for carrying or storing grain, food, etc. The cane is sometimes dyed black or red, and woven in simple patterns.