In fact, many Hindu Gods like Kaali and Krishna are often portrayed in the colour blue as it symbolises the colour of the cosmos.

Here, indigo is perceived as a Blue Goddess. “I have watched the indigo plants being harvested and have seen my grandmother offer her prayers to the Neel Atha before beginning indigo extraction at our plant.” “Even as a child, I grew up with indigo all around me,” says the soft-spoken Balachander. The Anbhazhagan family perfected the patient craft of extracting natural indigo dye from Indigofera plants, using the same century-old, colonial-era cement tanks their relatives used before them.Īll these years later, the company is now the largest producer of natural indigo dye in India. Balachander, a fourth-generation indigo farmer The 33-year-old is the scion of KMA Exports, an indigo farming and production company that has operated here since the 1960s.īalachander’s great-grandfather started processing indigo during colonial times – when the naturally sourced dye was a valuable commodity. “It is almost a festival for our village,” says Balachander Anbhazhagan. The foreman says a two-minute prayer for Neel Atha (or the Blue Mother) – the sacred name the villagers have for indigo – and presents an offering of bananas and coconut, blessed fruits according to Hindu rituals. But October finally brought the first day of “thotti podurathu” – when the traditional tanks are set up to extract the dye from the Indigofera plants.īefore work can begin, labourers and onlookers gather around the century-old tanks for a simple pooja, or prayer, invoking divine blessings. Production, which usually takes place three times a year, was delayed this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. In the factory, a foreman scuttles around anxiously, checking for absent labourers two sari-clad neighbours whisper to one another while combing their long hair and stray dogs run amok, sensing the anticipation in the air.įor four generations indigo has been grown, harvested and made into dye on this family-owned plot in Tamil Nadu. It is 6am in the small village of Kongarapattu in South India and the cloudy October sky is threatening to burst.

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