Veli kettal was a big activity.
Only big houses, like palaces had boundary walls.
Most other houses had fences.
veli has to be made for 1 acre 27 cent land.
most houses had no toilets - none inside house, and not even outside.
veli makes house look good from outside, and gives necessary cover :-)
first, pathal was put in the ground. pathal is vertical members of the fence.
pathal is made using small trees - karinjotta, peenari, marotti etc.
karinjotta
medicinal
violet kaaya
beautiful to see karinjotta kaaya formed as bunches (kula kula)
kadamkatha - "chettikal chettikal, aadunna chettikal, kaathil kunukkittu, aadunna chettikal"
the wood is very light, and pest resistant. puzhu kuthilla
wood was used to make methiyadi
peenari: bad smell
marotti
medicinal
marotti oil is god for kidney diseases (?) - external application and internal use
the kaaya is as big as a ball
marotti kaaya was ground in chakku for oil
(Deviation on chakku)
Chakku - mara chakku - wooden chuck - was a rotary mechanism for extracting oil from copra, marotti kaaya etc.
It was a big wooden piece with a hole in the center. The hole had the "kozha" (the pestle). The pestle was attached to a handle, and was driven by man or bulls.
The enna aattal was done by chakkaalanmaaru (people who run the chakk). Was mostly done by chetty people
(Deviation on chakkalathil poru (fight))
when chakkaattu is going on, the wife will be near the chakku, (maybe, helping to put the material that mooves up inside the mortar back into the hole properly) and the husband will be running the handle of the pestle.
when the oil rises in the hole, the man will start a fake argument and fight. He will run behind the wife. The wife will, in the commotion, dip her saree in the oil and run inside the house, where she will wring the oil out of the saree into a container, effectively stealing oil under the nose of the person who brought the seed for pressing out the oil.
This is called 'chakkalathil poru'
After pathal is put on the ground, vaari has to be put. these are horizontal members of the fence - after the vaari is put, the fence will be pretty straight & flat. Vaari is made of old adakka maram. Once the adakka maram gets old, fruiting (kaa phalam) will be less. These are cut, soft center is removed. hard outside is cut into long, flat pieces. This is used as vaari. If the fence is 5' tall, vaari is put at 1' height, 3' and 4.5'. Vaari is tied on to pathal using coconut leaves itself (?) for this valli is got from ola - ola keerunnathinu munp vellathil ittu edukkum (?)
Now, the flat structure has to be covered with medanja ola (woven coconut leaf). This provides the privacy for the compound. Weaving the leaf is an expert affair. Coconut leaves are cut after rain. This is scientific. during rainy season, leaves are needed for the evaporation. during summer, cutting leaves is good to avoid evaporation. leaves are cut, then the two ends (kada and thumb) are removed. The approximately 6' leaf is now cut into two along the middle stem of the leaf and woven. (can expand)
Similar woven leaves were used to thatch roofs. Kottapuram tharavad needed 28 kettu ola - one kettu is 25 woven olas.
Now this woven leaves are tied on to the structure earlier made. More varis are kept and the woven leaves are tied. The leaves go on the outside of the veli to give beauty to the fence.
mula (bamboo) also called illi pathal was tied on to the fence to avoid cows etc. from eating the fence, and to discourage people from stealing the fence. the illi pathal was bought by chettys (moopanmar) during the time of veli kettal. comes as 100 kannu (1 kettu) (?). The illi pathal is pierced on to the fence.
Now, it is time for veli murukkal (tying). A soochi (needle) is used. The needle is actually a 2 cm wide 1.5' wood piece with a hole in the middle. Two people stand on two sides of the fence. A rope (?) is passed through the hole by the person on inside and the needle is pushed through the fence to the other side. He takes it around the vari and pushes it back. The person inside makes the knot.
The fence was not needed on the east side. east side had a river, it was a tributary of periyar, joining bahratapuzha. There was daily boat service through this river. The boat used to go at sandhya time to chettuva. If you get in the boat at sandhya, it used to reach chettuva in the morning. Achan used to go to chettuva like this with achachan. achachan used to go daily to guruvayoor for ekadasi. this was how they went. they will wake up in the morning in chettuva. chettuva had muslim population. they would have breakfast from a muslim's shop (tea and pathiri) and walk to guruvayoor.
achan used to go to help achachan for veli kettal even after joining for job in trivandrum. (labourers were scant)
Only big houses, like palaces had boundary walls.
Most other houses had fences.
veli has to be made for 1 acre 27 cent land.
most houses had no toilets - none inside house, and not even outside.
veli makes house look good from outside, and gives necessary cover :-)
first, pathal was put in the ground. pathal is vertical members of the fence.
pathal is made using small trees - karinjotta, peenari, marotti etc.
karinjotta
medicinal
violet kaaya
beautiful to see karinjotta kaaya formed as bunches (kula kula)
kadamkatha - "chettikal chettikal, aadunna chettikal, kaathil kunukkittu, aadunna chettikal"
the wood is very light, and pest resistant. puzhu kuthilla
wood was used to make methiyadi
peenari: bad smell
marotti
medicinal
marotti oil is god for kidney diseases (?) - external application and internal use
the kaaya is as big as a ball
marotti kaaya was ground in chakku for oil
(Deviation on chakku)
Chakku - mara chakku - wooden chuck - was a rotary mechanism for extracting oil from copra, marotti kaaya etc.
It was a big wooden piece with a hole in the center. The hole had the "kozha" (the pestle). The pestle was attached to a handle, and was driven by man or bulls.
The enna aattal was done by chakkaalanmaaru (people who run the chakk). Was mostly done by chetty people
(Deviation on chakkalathil poru (fight))
when chakkaattu is going on, the wife will be near the chakku, (maybe, helping to put the material that mooves up inside the mortar back into the hole properly) and the husband will be running the handle of the pestle.
when the oil rises in the hole, the man will start a fake argument and fight. He will run behind the wife. The wife will, in the commotion, dip her saree in the oil and run inside the house, where she will wring the oil out of the saree into a container, effectively stealing oil under the nose of the person who brought the seed for pressing out the oil.
This is called 'chakkalathil poru'
After pathal is put on the ground, vaari has to be put. these are horizontal members of the fence - after the vaari is put, the fence will be pretty straight & flat. Vaari is made of old adakka maram. Once the adakka maram gets old, fruiting (kaa phalam) will be less. These are cut, soft center is removed. hard outside is cut into long, flat pieces. This is used as vaari. If the fence is 5' tall, vaari is put at 1' height, 3' and 4.5'. Vaari is tied on to pathal using coconut leaves itself (?) for this valli is got from ola - ola keerunnathinu munp vellathil ittu edukkum (?)
Now, the flat structure has to be covered with medanja ola (woven coconut leaf). This provides the privacy for the compound. Weaving the leaf is an expert affair. Coconut leaves are cut after rain. This is scientific. during rainy season, leaves are needed for the evaporation. during summer, cutting leaves is good to avoid evaporation. leaves are cut, then the two ends (kada and thumb) are removed. The approximately 6' leaf is now cut into two along the middle stem of the leaf and woven. (can expand)
Similar woven leaves were used to thatch roofs. Kottapuram tharavad needed 28 kettu ola - one kettu is 25 woven olas.
Now this woven leaves are tied on to the structure earlier made. More varis are kept and the woven leaves are tied. The leaves go on the outside of the veli to give beauty to the fence.
mula (bamboo) also called illi pathal was tied on to the fence to avoid cows etc. from eating the fence, and to discourage people from stealing the fence. the illi pathal was bought by chettys (moopanmar) during the time of veli kettal. comes as 100 kannu (1 kettu) (?). The illi pathal is pierced on to the fence.
Now, it is time for veli murukkal (tying). A soochi (needle) is used. The needle is actually a 2 cm wide 1.5' wood piece with a hole in the middle. Two people stand on two sides of the fence. A rope (?) is passed through the hole by the person on inside and the needle is pushed through the fence to the other side. He takes it around the vari and pushes it back. The person inside makes the knot.
The fence was not needed on the east side. east side had a river, it was a tributary of periyar, joining bahratapuzha. There was daily boat service through this river. The boat used to go at sandhya time to chettuva. If you get in the boat at sandhya, it used to reach chettuva in the morning. Achan used to go to chettuva like this with achachan. achachan used to go daily to guruvayoor for ekadasi. this was how they went. they will wake up in the morning in chettuva. chettuva had muslim population. they would have breakfast from a muslim's shop (tea and pathiri) and walk to guruvayoor.
achan used to go to help achachan for veli kettal even after joining for job in trivandrum. (labourers were scant)
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