Indigenous/Traditional Knowledge in Sri Lanka

Hemanthi Ranasinghe

Indigenous Knowledge is….

• Local knowledge unique to every culture & society

• Embedded in community practices, institutions, relationships and rituals

• The basis for local decision making in– Agriculture, health, natural resource

management and other activities

• The greatest asset of the poor, helping them to shape and control their own development

• Crucial to an inclusive knowledge economy

IK in development helps to increase

• Efficiency– IK is cost effective– IK uses appropriate technology

• Effectiveness– IK improves chances of adoption – IK is integral to local communities

• Sustainability– IK facilitates mutual adaptation and learning – IK empowers local communities

Examples of the use of IK in Sri Lanka

Agriculture & Food Processing

• IK in agriculture includes– Information– Practices and technologies– Beliefs– Tools– Materials– Experimentation– Biological resources– Human resources– Education

Organic Agriculture

• Organic farming is a system of managing agricultural holdings that uses a variety of more environmentally friendly crop farming practices and involves major restrictions on the use of fertilisers and pesticides.

Cost effective paddy cultivation

• ‘Nawa kekulama’ practiced by farmers in North Central Province. – Zero tillage in ground preparation

– Bunds not weeded.

– Paddy seeds dry sown and then covered with 3 inch mat of dry paddy straws to keep the weed growth low.

– With the first irrigation, the paddy seeds germinate above the paddy straw

Pest control in paddy

• Use of pest repellent plant material.

• Practiced mostly in Anuradhapura and Uva Provinces

• Crude paste prepared by crushing Neem and Mahapatta leaves, wrapping it in a piece of cloth and placing the pack near the canal water entry point.

Pest control in vegetable cultivation

• In Lunuwatte, Rahupola in Uva-Paranagama and Moneragala areas in Badulla District, rotational cropping is practiced.

• Paddy cultivation is followed by vegetable crop such as beans which is susceptible to inset pest infestation.

• Application of organic treatments to repel insect pests.

– Dust the plants with kitchen ash at dawn when plants are wet with dew.

– Spray the plants with a suspension of cattle dung in water.

– Use of crushed leaves and bark of plants Neem and Sunflower. The mixture of crushed plant material is shaken with water in a large bottle and kept aside in the field for several days for maturation. The matured water suspension is then sprayed over the bean plants.

Weed control in paddy

• Spreading a thick mat of dry straw placed in the paddy field after dry sowing to reduces weeds

• About 3 weeks after sowing the standing water level is maintained at about half the height of the paddy plant.

• A log or banana trunk about 5’ length is fixed with wooden spikes 2” in circumference and set 4” apart. A short pole is fixed at each end of trunk to function as an axle.

• The trunk is rolled over the paddy plant smoothly in one direction. Common weeds like Kudumatta and Tunessa are removed and soil is loosened. This destroys many paddy pests on leaves.

• Control of weeds through a consistent and phased control of water.

• After 10-14 days of sowing the paddy field is kept covered with water for a continuous period of 3 days.

• On the 4th day the water is drained out and the field is allowed to dry out for 2 days.

• After that, water is again allowed into the field and left standing for 3 days.

• When this process is carried out several times, growth of weeds is substantially controlled.

Integrated crop-livestock farming • Use of buffalo as a

multipurpose animal

– For ploughing and threshing

– Weed control by grazing:

– Tether a pair of buffalo for 10 nights for fertilise trees;

• Dung & urine (enriched with nitrogen & phosphate) mixed with kitchen ash when coconut husks are used (enriched with potassium).

• Proportion of this being pair of buffalo heads tethered for 10 nights to a tree is adequate for 2 years.

Biodynamic Agriculture

• Integrates precise observation of natural phenomena, clear thinking and knowledge of the spirit. This is applied to agricultural production as a nature farming method.

Ritualistic traditions in participatory natural resource mgt.

Muttimangallaya

• Practiced in the dry zone especially Anuradhapura and Kurunegala Districts.

• Is a participatory management system founded on collective conscience, enshrining community based commitments, rights, obligations and decision making

• Cost effective regulatory process for ecosystem protection, irrigation, water management and organised crop production.

• Carried out in 2 stages

– Vow making: get the blessings of the Gods for commencing the planting season, save the natural resources eg. tank, people, livestock etc.

– Fulfilling the vow after harvesting

• Significance– Collective decision making

– Desire for the protection of both biological and physical resources

– Ensuring harmony among the villagers

Food processing and storage

• Technologies include drying, dehydration, fermentation, smoking, salt treatment and submerging in cold water

• Sun drying – grains such as paddy or rice thinly spread over large mats with a sprinkling of crushed or whole leaves of rampe or Karapincha or citrus to repel insects and prevent fungus formation.

• Grains stored in bissa which is a large basket shaped storage bins made of cane.

• Wrapping or packaging material specific to particular food product intended to reduce spoilage. Properties of material such as absorption of moisture, permeability to oxygen and light also being considered.

• Shelf life increased by burying under soil (lime, cassava etc) or dry sand plus dried saw dust.

• Fish – smoking/sundrying – smoking fish with specific types of firewood eg. cinnamon gives a special flavor to the product.

• Ripening of matured fruits delayed when the whole fruit is submerged in cold water ie jak

• Processing of components of the fruit eg. jak

– Bulbs, seeds and pericarp. Processing can be done after boiling and including different stages such as slicing, blanching, draining, sun drying and storing in smoke racks. Jak seeds also processed and stored in sand.

Home Gardens

• Multi tiered cropping with a variety of trees, food crops, herbs and some animal life in small land holdings in the Central Province and few other localities in North Western and North Central areas.

• It is a natural, self-contained heterogeneous mix of plant forms providing the landowner with food, vegetables, fruits, timber, fuel, herbs and medicines whilst contribution to conservation of biodiversity.

• Land holdings small (average about one hectare in extent). Accommodate as much as 400 different species – high biodiversity.

• About 1.33 million homegardens in the country spreading on 367,800 ha of land.

• Provides about 70% of the timber requirement of the country and important sites for conservation of germplasm.

Inland Fishery

• Used in early Anuradhapura period and some continued thereby to present times too.

• The techniques used are hook, net and long basket (kumina)

• The long basket (fish trap) is placed in flowing water in small streams. Fish entered into these is trapped and then collected by hand.

• During times of drought, people had introduced various toxic inedible fruits into water holes to make them insensible which facilitated the catch.

Holistic approach to health care

Soul

Mind

Body

World

Universe

Medicine and Animal Health• Most comprehensive storehouse of

indigenous knowledge.

• Encompass medicinal, psychological, cultural, religious and philosophical phenomena with a holistic approach towards a long and healthy life

• . • ‘Deshiya chikithsa’

– Immersion therapy in medicinal troughs made of metal, wood or stone – for fever, rheumatism etc.

– Snake bits and fractures – therapy is based on the identification of nature and virulence of toxic substance/time of incident

Traditional midwife in childbirth• The labour room is swept, sprinkled with tumeric to disinfect.

• Application of oil prepared from margosa, gingelly and castor oil from loins towards the eppigastria – to give more flexibility and elasticity to muscles for easier contraction.

• Application of snuff to induce sneezing – to help push

• Postures and positions adopted according to the frame of the pregnant mother’s body.

• Placenta is severed with a sharp knife that has been previously treated with tumeric water and held over the incense several times.

• Wound dressed with a medication made from ash of fund of a calf mixed with pepper and a herb (vasambu).

• Castor oil is given to drink after the ejection of the placenta which is then burnt outside the entrace of the house. A stone is placed on top of the placenta and a rope to which mango and margosa leaves are tied is wrapped around it. - to prevent evil sprits in entering the house. – people who see this do not enter the house – so that mother and the infant are free from communicable diseases and infections. This is retained for 30 days during which period midwife assisted by older women would attend to the baby and the lactating mother.

• After a month of after care (diet management, primary health care, purification and ritualistic or spiritual events) to mark the entry of the mother and newborn to the community fold.

Disease diagnosis in cattle• Identification of cattle groups (Gothra)

• Disease identification by visual observations and investigations such as behavior, pulse, pulse rate, respiration, dryness of the muzzle, rumination, defecation, urination, movement and posture of ears, changes and reddening of the eye, movements of the eye ball, tearing, nasal discharge, gestation, lactates etc.

• Diseases diagnosed in relation to the site of origin ie head (nervous conditions), ear, intestines, blood vascular and respiratory.

• Skin opening where the skin is opened at the tip of the tail to examine the color of blood

• Treatment involves incorporation of biophysical and spiritual aspects of medication.

• Prevention from diseases by performing rituals (Kem, yantra, Mantra)

Biophysical treatments• Ingredients used

– Rhizomes, roots, bark of trees– Flowers and seeds– Cannabis or ganja– Hill mud– Whey, ghee, eggs, eggshells, bone meal, bat and human excreta,

urine

• Ingredients combined with ginger essence, betel juice, thippili juice, lemon juice, salt water, coconut milk, king coconut water, young coconut water or cold or hot water.

• These are combined into a fine consistency by crushing and rolling a medicinal stone or powdered using a pestle and mortar and administered in specified quantities.

• Administration of medicine done – through nasal for inhalation of medicinal fumes or – infiltration of ear cavities by blowing through a small bamboo tube, – oral where treatment is done as a drench, – tongue for powders and pastes, – topical for oils and pastes, branding and – skin burns on particular nerve points called ‘nila’, – bleeding by stabbing with a pointed bamboo or blade (sterilized),

rectal where medicines are administered to the colon via rectum, hand manipulation where medications combined with ‘kem’ to treat difficult births.

Weather forecasting• Observations of the sky and the movements of the

clouds

– Movement of clouds in one direction is a sign of rainy weather while the opposite direction is meant dry weather.

• A red sky at sunrise and sunset considered a warning for rainless days ahead.

• Cold nights with mist and dew considered signs of impending dry weather while hot and warm feelings during the day signaled rainy evenings.

• By animal behavior

– A sharp and peculiar sound made by frogs and toads a sign for the arrival of rainy weather conditions

– Bees to remain indoors if rain is expected.

– Buffaloes and cats to appear restless and making unusual noises indicating an impending harsh weather situation such as cyclone.

• Onset of the full moon day to break the weather pattern

Irrigation systems

Most important components in the village were the tank, paddy field, home garden and chena

Irrigation depend on micro catchments required careful watershed mgt.

Ancient kings too contributed to the water resource development

This hydraulic civilisation in the dry zone disappeared in 12th century with foreign invasions

Legislative and institutional arrangements

Local legislative environment

• The paper on Access to information prepared by the Law Commission

• The Ayurveda Act

• The draft law on access to genetic resources of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources

• The draft legal framework on access to traditional knowledge relating to the use of medicinal plants – Ministry of Indigenous Medicine

• The Code of Intellectual Property Law

Institutions related to IK• National Steering Committee on IK in NASTEC

• Biodiversity Division of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources – Drafting legislation on access to genetic resources– Workshops on IK

• Sri Lanka Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (SLARCIK)– Research on IK– Collection and Documentation of IK– Dissemination of IK– Incorporation of IK aspects into school/university curricula

• Ministry of Indigenous Medicine and the Project on Conservation and Sustainable Utilisation of Medicinal Plants

– Gathering of IK information on medicinal plants– Drafting legislation

• Department of Intellectual Property Rights– Work on IPR aspects

Some drawbacks of using IK

• Mostly confined to rural communities

• Scattered and not well documented – does not reach the development personnel

• Modern society does not place much faith in it

• Modern education and technology claims it to be unscientific

Challenges to harness the potential of IK

• Raising awareness: identity – record – disseminate – exchange IK

• Validation and Valuation: study – test-compare – challenge – fund – protect

• Mainstreaming: pilot – adapt – integrate into comprehensive development framework

• Technology transfer: adoption of IK in other locations requires validation eg. testing herbal medicines for efficacy and safety

• Building Local Capacity: train – facilitate IK exchange

Areas which needs improvement

• Policy and legal frameworks for incorporating traditional knowledge practices in place

• Collection and compilation of traditional/indigenous knowledge scattered in the country.

• Information, communication and educational strategy to be operational

• Research in traditional knowledge programmes that can be implemented

• Capacity building of stakeholders using existing traditional knowledge

• Institutional mechanism for incorporating/mainstreaming traditional knowledge