The ‘Samkranthi Vanibham’and ‘Pakil Vanibham’ are on. Once the one-stop market for all household goods, proceeds accrued from these annual rural markets assured the agrarian households of income to tide over the deprivations of Karkidakom, considered the cruellest of all months in the monsoon ravaged Kerala of yore.
These markets derive their names from the villages where they are held. The fair at Samkranthi a few kilometres to the south of Kottayam town begins a day before the onset of Karkidakom.
The market mainly showcases products such as baskets made of reeds, mats made of pandanus leaves, agriculture implements, and pottery. The products are mostly made at Vaikom and other villages in the western fringes of the district.
However, today the market has also 21st century wares mostly made of plastics of varying quality, almost all of them targeting the middle class households.
The fair at Pakil, the village to the northern side of the town, begins on the first day of Karkidakom. The ‘vaanibham’ is steeped in legends associated with Sree Dharma Sastha Temple there and is held in the temple compound.
The village is believed to have offered shelter to Pakkanar, one of the most colourful characters of the legend of Parayi Petta Pandiu Kulam . One of the special features of the Pakil Vanibham is the showcasing of wooden furniture.
In the olden days, traditional artisans used to stay on till their wares are sold at Samkranthi, while the Pakil Vanibham was only for a day.
However, with the emergence of modern transport facilities, the participants go back to their residence to come back the next day till their products are sold off.
These markets had fallen on lean days by the second half of last century and the reasons could be found in the changes in social relationships effected on account of the political and reform movements and the fall of the agrarian economy.
While there were attempts to revive these rural markets with the help of the local bodies recently, they have not met with success so far.
