Between 1940 and 1945, during a good scarcity in the Madurai district, potters and painters from a village called Vilachery cured their hunger by crafting pottery. After India gained independence, in 1965, two artisans named Sadashivam and Suranvelar established a training workshop in Vilachery. This initiative led to the emergence of over 200 artisan families within three decades.
At the village’s entrance, near a Ganesha temple surrounded by royal trees, an artisan had crafted a life-size statue of Ganesha and was working on the crown of another idol. This marked the beginning of creating colourful Ganesha idols, with sales expected to start soon.
Visiting any home in the village reveals rooms filled with various handmade idols, showing that the local economy has been sustained by handicrafts from that era to the present.
The village of Vilachery is best known as a pottery village where almost every single one of the 200 houses belongs to pottery artisans.
You will be amazed at the sight of the scattered dolls, figurines and clay pots painted in bright colours. The clay for the art pieces made here is extracted locally from a temple tank and the artisans carefully and delicately mold and paint each piece by hand.
Although the artisans have been living here since the 1940s, Vilachery has only risen in popularity in the last three decades due to the unique style of art that can only be seen here. The artisans here receive orders from all over the world and it is usually very busy during the festival season.
Initially, the village only made clay pots, but in recent times the artisans have evolved their craft to cater to a variety of requirements, including mythological figures, characters from popular TV serials and movies, scenes from traditional Tamil middle-class life and more. Want to take home a unique souvenir? Then make sure to visit Vilachery Pottery Village when you visit Madurai.
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