Traditional handwoven screw pine mats had recently earned some notoriety following an allegation that a politician used one to ferry unaccounted money concealed within its folds.
The insinuations apart, the customary sleeping mat, called Thazhapayya and known for its healing properties, might soon disappear from store shelves.
Lack of patronage seems to have dealt a death blow to the fine art of screw pine mat weaving. Women form the bulk of the practitioners of the waning art of converting cured pine stems (Pandanus odoratissimuc Linn) to druggets. Valsala Prasad, a trained artisan with Kottapuram Integrated Development Society (KIDS) engaged in making screw pine mats and other value-added products, said she has been working with the society for the last 22 years. Before joining the society, she used to get ₹20-40 for a mat, but now she got an average of ₹300 for a 6.4-foot mat.
