Chapter 2 — The Pot Maker

The story is written by Temsula Ao. The textbook notes it is an abridged version of the original.

The main characters are Sentila (the protagonist who wants to learn pot making), Arenla (her mother), Mesoba (her father), and Onula (a kind middle-aged widow who supervises the girls' dormitory and mentors Sentila).

Arenla felt pot making was tiring and poorly rewarded — the grey and red clay source was 16 km away, carrying it home ached her back, pounding clay in bamboo cylinders was tedious, a batch took months of labour, and the reward was only a few rupees. She believed weaving earned more, was less messy, and could be done indoors in all seasons.

Sentila had overheard Arenla complaining to Mesoba about how laborious and poorly paid pot making was. Knowing her mother disapproved, she hid her visits to watch expert potters in the village.

The elders cautioned Mesoba that it was Arenla's duty to teach her daughter the skill passed down from generation to generation. They said skills like pot making — which catered to the community's needs and symbolised its tradition and history — did not belong to any individual, and experts were obliged to pass them on to anyone who wished to learn.

Clay is dug from the riverbank with a dao, loaded into a carrying basket, soaked in a trough, stuffed into bamboo cylinders, and pounded until malleable. The softened clay is then rotated and shaped into a pot using a spatula. After two or three days of drying and final touch-ups, the pots are loaded onto a kiln on a bed of hay and dried bamboo, covered with the same material, and fired — the fire needing careful tending to avoid over- or under-firing.

Onula is a kind, middle-aged widow who supervises the girls' dormitory. Having heard of the discord in Sentila's family, she resolves to help. She notices Sentila's clumsy, tense efforts to make a pot, demonstrates the technique herself, and tells Sentila to watch her mother carefully when shaping the mouth of the pot — advice that later proves decisive.

Sentila had mastered pot making on the very day her mother died. She ran after Arenla's body crying, 'Mother, I did not wish it to happen this way; it simply came to me. Please forgive me,' feeling as though her moment of success was somehow linked to her mother's passing, though it was a coincidence.

Onula found two neat rows of newly-made pots standing side by side. She could find nothing to tell one batch from the other and was certain it was not the handiwork of one person alone. She regarded this as a profound revelation — confirmation that Sentila had fully mastered the craft.

The line marks the moment Sentila fully inherits the craft, carrying forward the generational tradition of pot making in the community. It signals the transition of the skill from one generation to the next, echoing the village elders' belief that such skills must never die with an individual.

Onula's guidance at the dormitory gave Sentila a new confidence and a specific instruction: watch her mother's hand when shaping the mouth of the pot. On a sunny day, Arenla feigned a headache and backache and left Sentila alone in the work shed to make as many pots as she could. Free from the pressure of being watched, Sentila found her momentum and made just one pot short of her mother's tally.

The village council's message is explicit: skills like pot making 'did not belong to any individual.' They symbolised the tradition and history of the community, and experts were obliged to pass them on not only to their own children but to anyone who wished to learn.

Yes. The NCERT Kaveri Class 9 English textbook PDF, which includes 'The Pot Maker,' is available free with no sign-up on cbseprepmaster.com.