SWAMY AKA SWAMACHAR THE GOLD SMITH
SWAMY AKA SWAMACHAR THE GOLDSMITH.
To the south our house next to Vendor Ramanna’s house on the pial (jaguli) there was a room of size Five feet by three feet. This was rented by one Swami AKA Swamachar the gold smith. On the front of theRoom there was an open space of three feet by three feet. Swamy used to come to the shop by around
10-00 A M and and stay there upto 5-00 P M. As soon as he used to come he will clean the room andthe front space by using thr broom and collect all the dust in a cloth bag. This dust used to be purchasedby some people who knew as to how extract the gold and silver dust once in a month. He will lightan oil lamp in front of the” Kali “photo and light two incense sticks . swamy had a small tuft neatly tied
at the back with black dot (saadu) in the centre of the forehead with kumkum over it and a small sandal paste dot over it. He used to wear always impeccable white jubba with white dhothi. He will shift the tools of his trade such as the small forge, an inverted mud vessel whose mouth used to be the base and its bottom half removed which contained mud plaster at bottom and at the topit contained paddy husk and also the charcoal of coconut shell. Also there used to be a castor oil lamp
which when lighted and with an “L” shaped hollow tube was used to braise gold or silver small articles. With this he used to have various sized hammers and wooden hammer and crucibles ofvarious sizes and a small leathere bellow.. With all these things he was ready for the days work. to the open space He was of short height and of average built body.. His speciality was to make ornaments of gold with very
light weight. Now only it is known as “Kerala Jewellery” no such name was there during those periods that is some 65 years back. He also used to tell such ornament owners that it should be worn for occasions and immediately afterwards it should be removed and kept safely. Almost all his works consisted ofremoving the dents in the silver vesssels or articles and braising the gold or silver articles and polishing of silver and gold articles. He used to get work almost everyday as the chaluvamba
agrahar and neighbouring roads consisted of middle class families who did not care to go to “Dodda petai” (Present Asoka Road) for minor repairs to their silver or gold articles. Nobody knew the residential address of swamy and he used to say that he is doing part time job for some renowned jewelers at Dodda peatai.
He was good in fixing of nails to the new wooden tops. He used to charge two paise for fixing of nails to whether it is sharp edged or flat chisel edged. If the nail has to be serrated with chisel edge the charges were three paise. There was one Naga who used to prepare his own tops by using the knots of the mature guava tree which was grown in their compound. For this swamy used to charge
four paisa as it was difficult. The small size nail had to be heated red hot and this had to be gradually be introduced to the place where nail had to be driven. Gradually this will create a hole and into this a bigger nail used to be driven and the edge used to be made into chisel edged and serrated.
Swamy had good reputation and he was not avaricious. Nobody knew about his family life and He never told anyone about it. All of a sudden one evening he came to the room and said that he is Vacating the room. He went to indivicual houses from whom he had taken orders to do various jobs and retuned their articles. Evsery one was taken by surprise. He engaged a horse carriage (Tonga) and loaded with all the articles and locked the empty room and gave the key to the house owner and settled
the balance or rent. He told those who had assembled that he is opening a shop of his own at “Dodda pettai by lane “ and he will come and invite all for the inauguration.
After he left he never came back and those who tried to locate him at Dodda Pettai never succeeded to locate him.. Any way he did not owe any one any money or jewels as he returned them to the owners.
After his departure nobody met him any where in mysore city and nobody knew the reason for his sudden departure. .
To the south our house next to Vendor Ramanna’s house on the pial (jaguli) there was a room of size Five feet by three feet. This was rented by one Swami AKA Swamachar the gold smith. On the front of theRoom there was an open space of three feet by three feet. Swamy used to come to the shop by around
10-00 A M and and stay there upto 5-00 P M. As soon as he used to come he will clean the room andthe front space by using thr broom and collect all the dust in a cloth bag. This dust used to be purchasedby some people who knew as to how extract the gold and silver dust once in a month. He will lightan oil lamp in front of the” Kali “photo and light two incense sticks . swamy had a small tuft neatly tied
at the back with black dot (saadu) in the centre of the forehead with kumkum over it and a small sandal paste dot over it. He used to wear always impeccable white jubba with white dhothi. He will shift the tools of his trade such as the small forge, an inverted mud vessel whose mouth used to be the base and its bottom half removed which contained mud plaster at bottom and at the topit contained paddy husk and also the charcoal of coconut shell. Also there used to be a castor oil lamp
which when lighted and with an “L” shaped hollow tube was used to braise gold or silver small articles. With this he used to have various sized hammers and wooden hammer and crucibles ofvarious sizes and a small leathere bellow.. With all these things he was ready for the days work. to the open space He was of short height and of average built body.. His speciality was to make ornaments of gold with very
light weight. Now only it is known as “Kerala Jewellery” no such name was there during those periods that is some 65 years back. He also used to tell such ornament owners that it should be worn for occasions and immediately afterwards it should be removed and kept safely. Almost all his works consisted ofremoving the dents in the silver vesssels or articles and braising the gold or silver articles and polishing of silver and gold articles. He used to get work almost everyday as the chaluvamba
agrahar and neighbouring roads consisted of middle class families who did not care to go to “Dodda petai” (Present Asoka Road) for minor repairs to their silver or gold articles. Nobody knew the residential address of swamy and he used to say that he is doing part time job for some renowned jewelers at Dodda peatai.
He was good in fixing of nails to the new wooden tops. He used to charge two paise for fixing of nails to whether it is sharp edged or flat chisel edged. If the nail has to be serrated with chisel edge the charges were three paise. There was one Naga who used to prepare his own tops by using the knots of the mature guava tree which was grown in their compound. For this swamy used to charge
four paisa as it was difficult. The small size nail had to be heated red hot and this had to be gradually be introduced to the place where nail had to be driven. Gradually this will create a hole and into this a bigger nail used to be driven and the edge used to be made into chisel edged and serrated.
Swamy had good reputation and he was not avaricious. Nobody knew about his family life and He never told anyone about it. All of a sudden one evening he came to the room and said that he is Vacating the room. He went to indivicual houses from whom he had taken orders to do various jobs and retuned their articles. Evsery one was taken by surprise. He engaged a horse carriage (Tonga) and loaded with all the articles and locked the empty room and gave the key to the house owner and settled
the balance or rent. He told those who had assembled that he is opening a shop of his own at “Dodda pettai by lane “ and he will come and invite all for the inauguration.
After he left he never came back and those who tried to locate him at Dodda Pettai never succeeded to locate him.. Any way he did not owe any one any money or jewels as he returned them to the owners.
After his departure nobody met him any where in mysore city and nobody knew the reason for his sudden departure. .
posted by N.S.Char at 12:30 AM
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