Did you know that there are magical herbs in our forests that can heal almost any kind of ailment? Or have you heard of the ominous winds in the outer sea that can foretell the weather and tidal currents?
Age old knowledge
There are so many things about nature that you might not come across in books. There are some people, known as traditional knowledge-holders, who know these secrets of nature and hold them close to their hearts. Tribal people, fishermen, traditional farmers and others whose life and livelihood are closely connected with nature fall in this category. T he Centre for Innovation in Science and Social Action and Agri Friends Cultural Association organised an interaction programme for school students with traditional knowledge-holder on World Environment Day.
Around 300 students from eight schools in Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam districts participated in the event titled “Kaattarivu, Naattarivu, Kadalarivu”. The programme was inaugurated by Food and Civil Supplies Minister C. Divakaran.
Tribal healers Lakshmikutty, Valakudy Chandran Kani and Sivaprasad E.M. from Mottamoodu tribal settlement colony near Ponmudi, interacted with the students in the “Kaattarivu” session where they shared with the students the secrets of the Sakhya ranges and Agasthyarkoodam forests.
They spoke of rare herbs, such as Amritapala, Valiyarayan , Malayarayan and Palakam , found in these forests and having astounding medicinal values.
Lakshmikutty told students the story how Keralam was formed out of “Cheralam” by Agasthya Muni, believed to be the creator and protector of the biodiversity of this bountiful land. “Agasthya Muni told our forefathers not to depend on hunting for food. He asked us to feed on the fruits and nuts available in plenty in the forest instead of killing animals,” said Lakshmikutty, who has also authored books on herbs and tribal medicinal practices.
Saving the sea
In the second session on “Kadalarivu” the students interacted with traditional fishermen John J.T., Joseph Lopaz and Ambrose. Interesting facts about life in deep sea were shared by the speakers in this session. They spoke about the different methods of fishing, the flip sides of modern fishing methods over traditional methods, the various varieties of fishes, techniques of predicting the wind direction and water currents based on natural signals and so on.
“In the traditional method we used to have specific nets for fishing different types of fishes, depending upon their size. With the advent of modern techniques like trawling, all kinds of fishes are caught together. It also causes irrevocable damage to the sea bed and reefs,” said Mr. Joseph. “The reckless techniques of modern fishing and dumping of drainage and industrial waste into the sea has led to the extinction of hundreds of fish varieties from our seas,” he said.
Facts like why fishes caught in nylon nets state fast, dangers of discarding nylon nets in the sea, the changing colours of sea water and the relevance of organic matter that flows down from the hills to the sea during the rains were also discussed in this session.
Discussions in the third session of “Nattarivu” focused on topics like benefits of organic farming, importance of traditional varieties of crops and traditional agriculture methods. Farmers Manoharan Nair, Peringavila Sali, Santhosh and 83-year-old veteran vegetable farmer Malakhi Nadar were the speakers in this session.
Dr. S. Rajashekharan of Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute, Dr. A. Biju Kumar of Department of Aquatic Biology, University of Kerala, and C.R. Rajagopal of ‘Nattarivu Patana Kendram', Thrissur, were the moderators of the three sessions, respectively.
