Knowledge Systems of Some Scheduled Tribe Communities of South India
The Scheduled Tribes of India are generally forest-dwelling, living comparatively isolated from the rest of the population. They have developed distinct skills of their own, based on knowledge systems they have built up. The article describes some of these, from Scheduled Tribe communities in South India.
They had developed a relaxed relationship with their forest ecology over the ages. They had plenty of honey, which they knew to collect in a variety of ways, depending on the species of bees and the location of the hives. They could recall the names and uses of more than 150 plant species, many of them as medicines and herbs. Their spirit of enquiry was not merely traditional. Eupatorium had been introduced into Kerala after World War II, and spread throughout. The Kurumba found that they could make a poultice of the leaves that could cure some forms of sores on the skin.
They have herbal remedies for most of the diseases prevalent among them. Some practitioners, like the century-old Mudda Mooppan of Anavayi, and Valliyammal of Mukkali, had become famous, with large clientele among non-tribals also. They knew the migratory paths of elephants and other wild life, and adjusted their migrations accordingly, minimising conflict with the animals. They had an ingenious method for avoiding crop raiding by elephants. They would stack a collection of plant materials like pseudo-stems of plantains on elephant migratory paths leading away from their settlements, so that the animals would move off.
They never developed hunting technologies, and have no bows or arrows. But they are expert in devising traps, especially for wild pigs. They would also scavenge the kills of wild dogs, by driving off the packs of these predators, and recovering the carcases of their prey. They used to distribute the meat among their families in a traditional, equitable manner, so that everyone got some. The only animal they feared was the bear, because they would sometimes come on one by surprise, in the common quest of man and beast for honey.
Shifting cultivation: But it was their shifting cultivation practices that were most remarkable.
It may be described as “Dig and Scratch” in contrast to the universal “Slash & Burn” method. They used to clear the undergrowth from a selected area, and stack the material along the slopes. With a digging stick, their only traditional agricultural implement, they would dig enough to dibble the seeds or plant the seedlings of the cultivated plant species. This operation was done just once, for all the species, irrespective of their maturation time. The harvest was ‘sequential’, as each became ripe for it. This was very ‘eco-friendly’, and ‘energy-efficient’. The cultivated crops grew along with the natural vegetation, and there was a natural selection of the optimum varieties. This ensured sustained optimum productivity. As the density of the cultivated plants was not very much higher than that of the natural growth, it did not attract animal raiding.
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