This is the traditional method of making jaggery out of dates (
nolen in bangla
= dates, , and
gur = jaggery). Here, a woman is heating water placed over a subterranean stove constructed out of mud and fuelled by rice husk. The large subterranean stove is extended into a pit to accommodate a person to feed fuel at periodic intervals and remove it from the opening below. We observed dried left over rice weed after harvesting the grain from the fields around, being used as ready fuel. In the winters, the space of the stove keeps the feeder warm and humid while it receives the heat to extract the sweetness from the dates. The excess water off the extract is a gentle sweet drink, and further fermented to prepare local alcohol.
As we reached the Kalitala village in the Sunderbans, we saw in the houses that all the stoves were embedded into the earth, made with mud with a distinct understanding of thermodynamics. These earth stoves typically three openings - one to feed the fuel, one to hold the vessel and a third one to release smoke. When the stove doubled, the feeder and receiver openings would repeat while the internal hollow would be kept continuous to connect to the chimney for releasing the smoke.
Some of the receiver openings were beautifully moulded to raise up at three equilaterally verticed points so as to minimise the contact with the vessel and allow for the fire to burn more freely.
