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Honey bee publish details |
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Agro Biodiversity |
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| Title |
Conserving Diversity and Culture-Pem Dolma |
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Pem Dolma, a resident of Dirang, Arunachal Pradesh, is a unique repository of traditional knowledge and culture. She has been involved in conserving local indigenous varieties of crops and developing cures for human and animal ailments. She continues to live and propagate a way of living that is rooted in the culture and tradition of her people, the Monpa. With a population of 74,595, the Monpa live in west Kameng and Tawang districts and in some other parts of Arunachal Pradesh. They depend on their land and cattle for their livelihood.
Dolma’s attempts at conserving local, indigenous varieties of crops have been acknowledged. The indigenous varieties (33 of them) have been submitted in her name to the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, Delhi, for ex situ conservation. Her interest in indigenous crops stems from her belief that new varieties and chemical inputs in agriculture destroy the land, the environment and also affect the quality of food. She continues the practice of taking seeds from the nomadic Brokpa community. In fact, the Brokpa and the Monpa have been involved in exchanging goods with each other from times immemorial. Thus, the Monpa give tangpa and balu (herbs that are offered to Lord Buddha. These grow at an altitude of 10,000 to 13,000 m above sea level) and get items like yak ghee in return.
Besides knowing about the age old local crops, she is also aware of the popular indigenous varieties of Indian bean, millet crops, soybean and cucurbit crops that made their way to Arunachal Pradesh during the 1962 war between India and China.
Dolma ensures that the diet of her family (comprising her husband and children-five daughters and two sons) is based on traditional foods and indigenous crops. This includes bread made from indigenous varieties of buck wheat called meetha phaphada and teeta phaphada, maize, fox millet, finger millet, indigenous varieties of garlic (mann) etc.
She adds leaves of teeta phaphda whenever she cooks fish. The taste as well as the quality of the food improves and it is beneficial for people suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure and gastric trouble.
She is aware of the various methods of making beer from indigenous varieties of maize, barley and finger millet. Beer is not only a part of the customary food, but is also used in treating many diseases in humans and animals. Dolma believes that when consumed in moderation and as per specific instructions, beer can cure muscle pain and pain in the joints. In fact, she is well known in the region for developing several cures that incorporate the use of beer.
Some of her cures are based on astute observation. For instance, she had observed that fish, which was an important part of the diet, made people stronger and more resilient. She felt that even animals could be given fish. So she mixed liver and other parts of the fish that were usually thrown away with beer made from finger millet and indigenous varieties of maize. This was fed to animals suffering from weakness, particularly old animals. Dolma says that the results have always been good.
For improving the health of pregnant pigs, she feeds them a mixture of boiled rhizomes and stems of calocassia and tender leaves of shishnu (a small shrub, there are two varieties with leaves of different sizes). The ingredients need to be boiled till their quantity is reduced by 50 %. The mixture is allowed to cool and is then fed to the animals.
To prevent chicken from contracting Ranikhet disease, she feeds them balls made from flour of indigenous maize and fermented chhurpi (beer made from indigenous soyabean).
She is aware of the periods when pest attacks are minimal and keeps this is mind when sowing. Her family possesses five acres of land where they grow a variety of crops including maize, wheat, barley, finger millets, vegetables like brinjals, potatoes etc.
She stores seeds of pulses along with dry leaves of a shrub known as timbure (ash tree) in an earthern or wooden pot. Red beetles do not attack seeds that are stored so.
She reminisces about the systems of cooperation that her people followed. One such system was mila where neighbours helped each other in sowing seeds, collecting food from the forest and harvesting crops. Such systems were backed by the community which imposed requisite sanctions to ensure compliance. Thus, people could enter the forest only in groups.
The amount of material that could be taken out from the forest was decided by the community based on the needs and the size of the family. The community also appointed watchmen at the entry and exit points of the forest to ensure that the forest based resources were not exploited. “All our agricultural operations were based on mutual understanding, on social relationships and networking,” she says.
She is pained by the fact that the younger generation is moving away from its roots and is not aware of their cultural heritage. She says, “Our culture is getting adulterated. The young people want to eat fast food and are not interested in food made from millets or forest based products. Very few can speak the Monpa language. What will happen to our culture, religion and local traditions?” Clearly, the future of the Monpa is
at stake. |
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| Volume No. |
Honey Bee, 15(3):12-13, 2004 |
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| Sout |
Dr Ranjay K Singh |
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