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Show attention was arrested by a group of most unusual monus structures surrounde b a hideou snake-lik No one could give any information about t that the monstrous figures and canbel B balustrade of th Photograp 56 onuments, excep cxnaordmary even f yellow gmin, tice, goat meat, sweet cakes-all open to the germinfeste dust that had been ground underneath, along with the offal from man an beast, fm Ram Sahai was standing in front of his small home when we reache o Kalpi. Before the house sat a huge black man cutting int bits old hemp ropes and isc discarded fishing nes. Photugraph 57- As w approached he stoppedbis ok for a morment,and I was abe o examin the hatchet and wooden anvil he was using. it this matei s s e reducing paper scraps to a pulp, as practieed at the school, but the usc of hemp was the old Indian custom an of Asia, not only for reducing papermaking materials, but for the puundm of rice and all kinds of grain. Tt consisted ofa cement pit into which wa introduced a stamping beam and pestle, operated by a boy and a girl tread ing on and releasing the end of the beam. The Sahai beater, o stamper was in the course of repair at the time of our visit, which gave me an opportunity of making measurements. Ram Sahai was probably the most skille papermakerI encountered in India, and T was pleased indeed to see that h had not been led astray to the use of inferior materials, but had continue to employ hemp as had been the practice of his forefathers. He told u that he used caustic soda (sajji-khar) and bleaching powder (ikkarna) i Digital image © 2005 MarriottLibrary Universit of Utah, All rihts reserved |