Do you know about the mat we sleep on

When we speak about the mat that we sleep on, there are two types. One is naturally made and the other is synthetic. Most of our Indian households use to have these mats for either sleeping or for making the guests to sit on them or while serving food. The size and design may vary but we do use them regularly as value added products like purses, small gift boxes and so on.

In this, I am going to introduce you to the naturally made mats. When we say naturally made or eco-friendly it will be from some tree barks or plants or grass....right. Yes, the mat that we speak here is made from a type of grass that we call as korai grass, which is harvested twice a year along the river banks. The product we make out of it is known as korai mat or korai Pai (see image below).

After seeing the image you might have an idea about the mat we are speaking about. These Korai mats are given as wedding gifts as a tradition that is still being followed in some parts of the country. Not only in India but they have world fame. There is a kind of mat known as Pattamadai Mat or Silk mat, that was sent as a gift to Queen Elizabeth-II for her coronation in 1953. These Pattamadai mats have very fine strands like silk that gives the softness and the fineness that made them being world fame. I always believe that interpreting using pictures will make us understand quickly. So here are the pictures from grass to mat for you to see.

Hope now you know about the mat we sleep on.

Stay tuned to know some interesting facts!

Acknowledgement:

I hereby thank Mr. Anbarasu, Mr. Pichaimuthu, Ms. Tamilselvi, Ms. Palanimal, Ms. Kokila for giving inputs regarding cultivation of Korai grass and Mr. Koodalarasu, Mr. Thirunavukarasu, Mr. Srinivasan, Mr. Sultan Kaithar and Mr. Kalaiselvan for enriching the knowledge regarding weaving of Korai Mat.

Reference:

Geographical Indication Journal 47. Government of India. 2012. pp. 7-13.