Aiyanar Terracotta Horses

Across rural Tamil Nadu, terracotta horses, some taller than a person, stand guard at the shrines of Aiyanar, the village guardian deity, offered by devotees in fulfilment of vows. Potters of the Velar and Kuyavar communities build them by hand from clay tempered with sand and straw, making the legs, body and head in sections, joining them, and firing them in open kilns of straw and dried cow dung before painting. Pudukkottai district is a leading centre for the large figures, and the potters of Mazhaiyur near Karambakudi are noted makers. The craft has no registered GI.