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Mirror on the wall

The article "Reflecting a tradition"' (November 5) was very interesting. There is a different story about the origin of the Valkannadi. It is said that the king wanted to punish some artisans who had made a crown by adding brass to gold. The artisans, in turn, prayed to God and vowed to make a crown of brass as an offering. Their women added the tin ornaments they were wearing to the melting pot. When the metal was taken out, they found it shining like a mirror. The king accepted that crown and later the alloy was used to make mirrors. The alloy contains tin and not lead. In Kerala both metals are called eeyam; tin is velutheeyam( white lead) and lead is karutheeyam (black lead).

Saraswathy Ramakrishnan,
Chennai

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