The antique brass and bronze pots shown here are exclusively used for cooking Andhra Curries. In traditional Andhra meal there will be five items invariably – Muddapappu, curry, chutney, pulusu, rasam and curds or butter milk with lots of accompaniments like pickles, powders, appadam, vadiyalu, ooramirapakayalu etc. Out of all Andhra meal items curry, known as koora takes an…
This is picture of an antique brass hair untangler or a comb. I am very careful the usage of the word comb as the artifact does not identify with the characteristics of a comb. It is long and forked. The design is similar to that of two pronged fork. It is made of brass so the forked ends remain sturdy….
This wonderful brass vessel with a lid is used store and carries sweets like Laddu. In my younger days I used to see ladies in silk saris come to our house carrying vessels like this each one holding different sweets. The ladies used to ask my mother to give them a plate and would place on the plate one…
This is an Antique Brass Vanity box. In the earlier days women did not have an elaborate dressing table or assortments of creams and powders to beautify themselves. Women lived a simple life that evaded them from the likes of pretentious beauty and comparison. The kinds of items used by women were the same. These items were not customized…
This vintage brass 5-tier tiffin box was used by me during my school days to carry lunch to my school. I was born in the year 1940. My grandfather who was a head master for the only elementary school we had in our village Someswaram, in the East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh, India, had admitted me into the…
When my mother came to my father’s house for the first time in the year 1936 after her marriage, her father gifted her few items for her comfort at the new home including a cow and a brass milk pot known as paala tappela into which the milk is squeezed from the cow. This brass milk pot is 77…
Ghee is known to Indians since 6,500 BC. This was revealed through the traces of ghee found from the excavated pots belonging to that period. Ghee was used by ancient Indians for the ritual fire sacrifices called Homam. Ghee is truly an Indian invention and mainly used in India. It has spread to the neighboring countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh,…
This is a beautiful brass bowl with a pedestal. Anything sacred is always kept on a pedestal. The statues of Gods, Goddesses, the sacred Kalasam are mounted on a pedestal because they are of ritualistic importance and should not be placed on the ground according to Hindu tradition. The Radukalu (divine sandals representing the feet of gods and goddesses)…
Kalasam is the most sacred symbol of Hindu religion. All Hindu religious rituals start first with kalasa pooja. It is considered as Sarva Devata Roopam (image of all Gods), Sarva Veda Roopam (image of all vedas ) and Sarva Divya Nadee Roopam (image of all sacred rivers). Because of its sacred nature, kalasam is invariably found on the top of…
Sandalwood paste is an integral part of Indian culture. Sandalwood paste is called Chandanam or Gandham in India. Indian women from time immemorial used sandalwood paste to beautify their skin. They decorate their face with smearing of sandalwood paste on their face either as a dot in the forehead of a strip on the cheeks. Priests use sandalwood paste…