This instrument made of wood is unique, used by grandmother and great grandmother, now forgotten by grandson

mortar: The mortar and pestle was once a vital but simple tool in preparing farm-grown grains for cooking. Today, it may be available in some traditional houses, but hardly anyone does any work like threshing with it. Most of the people of the new plant must have seen it in photographs or some old film. Ukhal is also said to be related to the childhood days of Shri Krishna.

The mortar or mortar must have been formed shortly after grains were grown on the earth. At some places it is also called mortar. Even though its Damru model came much later, it must have appeared in its primitive form in the Stone Age itself. Humans must have easily figured out the trick of crushing grains and removing their peels. Because certainly the ancestors used stones a lot. When the grains would have been scattered here and there while threshing, then due to the rubbing of the stones, the people of that time would have made a slight depression in the middle of a stone and started threshing it.

With changing times, the form of this Ukhal kept changing. Got a shape like a drum. In this, the lower part is like a base and the upper part has a depth like a big conical bowl. The grains were poured into it and the grains were crushed with a round and heavy wooden pestle. Till the eighties, it was available in almost every house in villages and towns. The work of threshing grains was mostly the responsibility of women. The rhythm of threshing grains with accustomed hands and the tinkling sound of bangles on every blow would provide inspiration for many lovers of poetry and writing.

Till the seventies, in almost all the villages, women themselves would wake up in the morning, thresh grains and cook them in this rhythm of ‘dhak-dhak’ and ‘jhan-jhan’. In the homes of rich people of villages, this responsibility would be given to employed women instead of the women of the family. The same mortar which turns golden paddy grains into rice, kept preparing the poor to cook Kodo, Sawna, Jowar, Bajra and Maize as rice. These are the coarse grains which are being sold today at very high prices in the metropolitan cities in the name of millet.

Sri Krishna’s child friend Kodo had reached Dwarka to meet Tribhuvan Nath. Narottam Das has mentioned Keshav’s food with great emotion. Well, Shri Krishna’s childhood days also have a deep connection with Ukhal. Mother Yashoda, fed up with Shri Krishna’s mischief, had tied him to a mortar. However, Leeladhar dragged him and freed two Yakshas who had turned into trees from the curse of Narada. Devotees and priests claim that the place where child Krishna was tied and the mortar with which he was tied are still present in Gokul Van near Mathura station.

In most places, the mortar was made of wood only. There was a stone mortar in the house of some landlord type person. But the pestle was always made of wood. There was also an iron ring at the end of the pestle. Its shape was also such that it could be held properly from the middle.

With changing times, everything started running on electric motors. Therefore, Ukhal is kept in some corner of traditional houses for some rituals, but its original function is not taken from it. There is no space left for them in the houses in towns and cities. Therefore, if Gen Z is asked whether they have seen Ukhal, the answer will either be no or they will say that they have seen the photo.

Tag: local18