How the forges of Venkatanayakanpatti keep bells tinkling

Home-based forges in Venkatanayakanpatti keep a tradition of brass bell manufacture through the lost wax casting process alive in Tamil Nadu

Shankar and his family members are seated on the floor outside their home, building up a mound of what looks like chocolate truffle balls when we meet at Venkatanayakanpatti village, on a hot day.

Weighing approximately 65 grams, each of these balls hold within, the mould that will eventually create the brass bells that provide the soundtrack to many different lives.

Whether stitched onto felt strips and worn by dancers as ‘salangai’ or ‘ghungroo’ to unite rhythm with beat, or as adornments on domesticated animals especially in rural sports such as ‘jallikattu’, these handmade bells, with their distinctive ‘jal-jal’ sound, have a humble start from home-based smithies such as those in Venkatanayakanpatti, situated 56 km from Tiruchi.

“There are at least 35 steps in manufacturing a ‘mani’ (bell), and this is just the first one,” says Shankar, as his fingers ceaselessly shape balls from a lump of clayey paste made with moist riverbed soil and a mixture of natural resins.

The small balls are dipped in melted beeswax and castor oil and then further coated in another clay paste. Hooks are shaped with the same moulding mixture and attached separately to each bell.

The completed bell casings are baked in batches of 24 or 36, set in handmade moulds that have an inlet for the molten metal and an outlet for the melted wax.