CHIRATTA (COCONUT SHELL)
Today morning I went upstairs forwatering the plants in the mud pots kept in the front side. After finishing Iwent back side and found the coconuts first time appeared in two coconut treesare half grown. My thinking went somehow about coconut shells. In the primary class I studiedall parts of the coconut tree are useful to humans. The use of coconut shell wasmainly for oven use inhome during my student days.LPG came very late in my home. I learnt later, the washer menuse the charcoal made out of coconut shell in the metal iron for pressing. Itgave almost steady heat without much smoke. We could see on those days basketsfilled with such charcoal ready for using in their homes. Seeing it, in high school days for ironing most of usused to preserve coconut shells. It was easier to keep a stock of charcoal ofcoconut shells prepared in a bag. For ironing a small part was burnt and used. Metaliron in brass was available in vessel shops. Now too in Chennai many street/shopironing people use charcoal irons. When charcoal shops opened they keptready coconut shell charcoal separately and priced little more. When firewood was wet or not properly dried, coconut shellsbecame handy for firewood ovens (virakuaduppu) At one time before the kerosenestove and LPG stove we had charcoal ovens called kummatti. In kummatti we used to mix coconut shellcharcoal with other charcoal rather than using it alone. In homes after removing thekernel the shell is dried in sun andused for ovens. The shell is used for differentother uses also. One of them is for making thava. Coconut shell thava was usedduring feasts in the cooking area. Carpenters used to make the thava and it wasavailable for sale in market. At onetime we could get coconut thavas and spoons in handy craft stores. Though used during feasts in thecooking area,it was notused in the serving area in Brahmin feasts, if my recollection iscorrect. Coconut is considered divine andeven considered equivalent to cow. Instead of Godanam it is common to offer thecoconut with a good amount as danam .Only thing the sasthrikal himself accepts the godanamwithout exception. The shell of coconut is used foroffering salt manga neivedyam in the Sreepadmanabha swamy temple at Trivandrum.Now the shell is covered with gold leaf is the only difference. With in the kitchen howeverBrahmin’s use was lesser of coconutthava. Of course for taking liquid jaggery( Pathiyan sarkara) from jar, coconut thava was used. Not for regular use. The milk men commonly use thecoconut thava for handling curd , ghee, butter etc. For making moulds for karuppetti,the coconut shell is used now also. Since Brahmins use coconut shells for inauspicious rituals we may probably avoid itin kitchen. Keeping coconut shells in the front of the home is inauspicious. There is a saying water in acoconut shell is sea for ants. Nowadays mostly only electric iron isused in homes, coconut shells are disposed by putting in dust bin. Recently I saw a machine in whatsapp which would exactly cut coconut to two equal halves. Writer- R. Gopala Krishnan Dated13-09-2021. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to thatha_patty+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1292045015.53999.1631517627729%40mail.yahoo.com.
