Salt of the Earth

On our travels from Pondicherry back to Chennai we stopped to explore a solar evaporation salt operation. For us, the image of salt is so tightly linked to the cute little Morton girl walking in a light rain with an umbrella it was just mind boggling to traipse about a real salt marsh in a blazing Indian sun.

The vastness of the salting area was equally mind boggling. We scanned the horizon and saw nothing but earthen-carved holding areas filled with briny water. Along the sun-dried mud walkways, small mounds of salt were accumulated by a leathery crowd of men who labored barefoot in the tepid, salty waters.

The water consistency was that of a dingy salt slushy. Standing in the thick solution, the men pulled their long-handled salt rakes across the slush, changing the murky complexion to a snowy white as salt crystals amassed on their flat-bladed salt rakes. A little nudge of a foot was used to move the accumulated salt to cover the long rake blade, and in a graceful swing of the rake a small mount of salt was deposited on the mud walkway. The process (video) was repeated again…and again….and again.

We paused to take some “snaps” of the workers. Through the energy of Joseph, an industrious 14 year old, we obtained an address to which we will mail the photos. We wonder if his ambition will change his fate from becoming a salt raker. Hard to say.

Salt is a mythical substance. So plentiful on the earth…so needed by our bodies…so exploited by the powerful. Chinese emperors as early as 300 B.C. taxed salt at a sufficiently high price that the emperor was able to import salt, sell it and make a guaranteed profit. The salt revenues were used to build not only armies but defensive structures including the Great Wall.

The Romans took a different approach and made sure salt was abundant and available. The first of the great Roman roads, the Via Salaria, Salt Road, was built for transporting salt. At times soldiers were even paid in salt which gave rise to the expression "worth his salt." In fact, the Latin word sal became the French word solde, meaning pay, which is the origin of the word, soldier.

The British followed the Chinese model in India and established with brutal force a state-control monopoly of this vital commodity. Peacefully defying the salt monopoly was one of Gandhi’s non violent protests of British rule.

On 12 March 1930, Gandhi started his famous 240-mile salt walk to the sea at Dandi. Upon reaching his destination, he bent down, picked up a crust of salt, broke the British salt law and rocked an empire.