by Dr. R. Balasubramaniam

Three books written by me were released last week. One of them titled ‘Hosa Kanasu’ (New Dreams) is a collection of columns that I wrote for a Kannada newspaper spread over more than year. This book reflects many anecdotes that essentially bring out my reflections and the learning’s that I gleaned from my interactions with indigenous tribals. I have dedicated this book to the tribal chieftains who opened their homes and hearts to me and let me live with them for more than two decades.

Mudalimadiah, who released these books, is the only surviving chieftain amongst them today. A few people walked upto me and congratulated me for the books that I had penned. A few discerning ones voiced that they were unaware of such wise and wonderful indigenous brethren of ours living so close to the city of Mysore. It was then that I realised that for many, these tribals were merely a set of people for whom the Government had created a mechanism of affirmative action. For a few others, they were people who lived a life different from that of the mainstream one.

While it is not surprising that we form our own conclusions based on our knowledge or ignorance, I felt that this would be a good time to portray them for what they rightfully are. With time and the acculturation process rushing them into a world that they do not understand, we will be left with only stories and memories of how things originally were. With so much debate globally about sustainable development, I think it is prudent to try and understand them at least through the narrow lens of this dimension at least.

There are five anthropologically distinct indigenous tribes living in Heggadadevanakote (HD Kote) in Mysore district. These indigenous people are categorised as Scheduled Tribes and find a separate constitutional status are known to have an anthropological history of more than 50,000 years. The three major groups are the Jenukurubas, Kadukurubas (also known locally as Bettakurubas) and Yeravas while the Bundesoligas and Paniyas constitute two other smaller groups. The perspective of sustainability in this column is mainly relevant to the Jenukuruba and Kadukuruba tribes.

These tribes were traditionally known to be ‘hunters-food gatherers’ who are now gradually turning to agriculture as a livelihood. Sustainability from their point of view needs to be seen from a holistic and an eco-system perspective and not narrowly limited to an economic and environmental domain. It encompasses their traditional lifestyle born out of the context in which they have lived and the cultural values that they have imbibed over the centuries. It encompasses their food practices, hunting and food gathering methods, agricultural practices, health issues, learning and education, housing and their system of traditional jurisprudence that determines how they resolve the conflicts that arise amongst themselves and between tribes. We also need to bear in mind the impact of modernisation along with the rapid acculturation that mainstream social and economic forces are bringing about.

These tribes are traditionally known to subsist on naturally available food like bamboo shoots, tubers, honey and berries. Agriculture was subsistence and did not use any ploughing, hoeing or aggressive cultivation. Locally available medicinal herbs took care of most of their health needs. The local medicine man also used traditional healing methods including ‘spirit-calling’ to address psychosomatic disorders. Most learning was by ‘word-of-mouth’ and revolved around survival techniques and was passed on from generation to generation. It did not demand expensive schools or specially trained teachers, with community elders and parents playing the role of teachers too. Housing was with locally available materials and built within a day or two and did not involve any stone masonry or expensive building materials. Conflicts were resolved and justice dispensed by the ‘Panchayat of Yajamanas’ (Council of Chieftains) and punishment in cases of violent crime was immediate and effective too.

Over four decades of rapid acculturation and shoddy integration into the mainstream culture has left these communities in confusion. Forest conservation laws that they can neither understand nor find relevance in has left them at a crossroad with neither a coping mechanism nor an alternate lifestyle. Economic and social demands of mainstream culture and life is forcing them to abandon their traditional methods which kept things simple and sustainable and adopt more expensive, government and NGO driven coping strategies which are neither culturally appropriate nor contextually relevant. These indigenous tribals can neither go back to the past nor have they successfully integrated with the present. The skills that they traditionally had no longer meet the demands of modern existence. All that exists is an insensitive and patronising system that talks of their development bereft of the dignity that they deserve.

Considering the unsustainable path that today’s world of consumerism demands, there is a lot to learn and emulate from these indigenous communities. We now need to explore and imitate lifestyles and consumption patterns that these communities have been practicing from centuries and see how one can effectively blend the benefits of both worlds. It calls for an empirical, pragmatic and non-romanticised understanding of these processes and integrating them into our everyday existence before it turns out to be too late for all of us. Collectively, we need to ensure that this traditional knowledge and wisdom is preserved not just for the tribals, but also for society as a whole.

[drrbalu@gmail.com]

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles  / July 09th, 2014