Under the latest and popular online series of Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya entitled 'Exhibit of the Week’, the Thoni, a wooden grain bin a large barrel-shaped grain bin collected from1999, The rural community of Kollam, Kerala Its Measurement - Length-258 cm, Width–94 cm, Sphericity-302 cm displayed in the audience as The First Exhibit of the month of November, 2020 through official website, Facebook, Instagram and twitter page of the IGRMS.
In this regard Praveen Kumar Mishra, Director, IGRMS said that Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (National Museum of Mankind), said that initially this series will focus on the masterpieces from its collection which are considered as unique for their contribution to the cultural history of a particular ethnic group or area. This is a large barrel-shaped grain bin carved out of a single log of wood of a local species known as Anjali. It has an opening on the top surface with a rigid wooden flap. Earlier, these kind of wooden bins were used to store food grains by the rural people of Kerala.
Regarding this object Sudeepa Roy said that especially used by the economically sound families to safely store their grains for a long time and protect the grains from insects, rodents, birds, and thieves. The bin is generally kept in the storeroom to secure the storage of food and edibles.
With the imposition of strict forest policies, cutting off the tree is prevented and considered an unlawful activity. Now a days this kind of a colossal object has become rare to the community and is no longer prepared or used. Now it is replaced by relatively smaller bins made of wood and other materials.