How we check a lamp before it leaves the shop

Every lamp that reaches our shop comes from a casting family in Nachiarkoil or Kumbakonam, wrapped in sacking and packed in straw. Before it goes on the shelf, or into a parcel, it passes through four checks at the back of the shop.

First, my uncle Ramasamy weighs it on the same brass beam scale our grandfather bought in 1961. A five-face 18 inch lamp should weigh close to 1.6 kg. A lamp much lighter than its size is often hollow in the stem or thin in the bowl, and it will tip easily or dent. We note the weight on the tag, and in-store customers can watch it being weighed.

Next comes the ring test. He taps the bowl and the base lightly with a small rod. Sound brass gives a clear, long ring; a dull thud usually means a crack or a pocket of air inside the casting. Those pieces go back to the maker.

Then the base is checked on a glass slab. If the lamp rocks, the underside is filed flat by hand so it stands steady on a pooja shelf or a polished floor. Finally, each lamp is rubbed with tamarind, rinsed, dried and buffed with a cotton cloth. For parcels, the lamp is wrapped in paper, then bubble wrap, and set in straw inside a wooden crate. The whole check takes about twenty minutes a lamp.