Traditional Knowledge

Access and Benefit Sharing: New rules for use of biodiversity

The National Biodiversity Authority has released a new set of rules to manage sharing of benefits generated through the use of biological resources. The Biological Diversity (Access to biological Resources and Knowledge Associated thereto and Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits) Regulation 2025 was approved by the Central government and …

The salutary influence of irrigation on human settlement, economy and political power in pre-modern southeast Asia

The tropical monsoon rhythm for over centuries obviously occasioned the development of water works which facilitated wet rice cultivation in pre-modern Southeast Asia. The small-scale water works, purely an outcome of local initiative which survived for many centuries and outlived the state, were developed in the dry zone of Irrawaddy …

INDSAFARI An organic pesticide for tea

Surapala's Vrikshayurveda and Chakrapani Mishra's Vishvavallabha recommend the use of kunapa (liquid manure) for nourishment of trees and plants.

Fertility management dynamics of soil: Exploration of farmers' hidden wisdom

Farmers's wisdom of soil taxonomy and fertility management dynamics is based on trial and error, problem solving and group approach to manage the natural resources. The farmers' knowledge of defining the soil taxonomy and fertility management practices is compatible to their adaptive skills and rich source of location-specific ecological information. …

Private groves

function table() { var popurl="files/images/20050815/31-graph.jpg" winpops=window.open(popurl,"","width=350,height=450,scrollbars=yes") } The first morning, I come across piles of freshly chopped wood in front of each house. An Apatani village is built on high ground and is occupied by hundreds of houses, stacked wall to wall. At places, the road broadens to accommodate a …

Thick description

The Apatani heartland can be accessed easily, simply because there is a road leading right up to it

Written word protects

Among the remotest of tribes across India, there exist vast untapped reservoirs of medicinal knowledge

80 joules from one

Ihave negotiated with Bukur to meet a variety of people

Two good men

Healers for All Reasons

Recipes

Juice Boil more than one kilogramme (kg) of Rhododendron petals, and then strain out the concentrated juice. Subsequently, add one kg of sugar, 350 millilitres of water, five grammes of cytric acid, three grammes of essence and a bit of colour in the juice (its quantity should be around one …

KADATAS Karnataka

Dating back to 1250 AD, kadatas or kaditas are a rich resource on medieval and early modern Karnataka. Kept by village accountants and Mysore's mercantile community, they contain records of transactions between landowners and cultivators, sometimes a Mutt and its devotees. Most are in Kannada, but some have been found …

SANCHA VIDYA Himachal Pradesh

This technique of making and preserving manuscripts has survived over a thousand years in several districts of Himachal Pradesh. But today, only a few people in Sirmour and Shimla districts can read and decipher Sancha Vidya. Written in Pavuchi script, a version of Brahmi, these contain tracts on astronomy, ethics, …

MONPA Arunachal Pradesh

Some of the finest paper in the world is still made in the remote villages of hilly Tawang district in Arunachal Pradesh, whose Buddhist Monpa and Sherdukpan tribes are skilled artists. Handmade paper for their Bhodi scripts and tangkhas (paintings) is prepared from the pulp of the shugu sheng shrub. …

SANCHI PAAT Assam

A writing technique used in Assam's Majuli islands since 600 AD The process: Strips from the bark of an agaru tree (15-20 years old),in separate rolls of 6-18 feet, are sun-dried and exposed to dew overnight. Then, the nikari (outer layer) is removed, the surface smoothened and cut into convenient …

PALM LEAF Across eastern and southern India

Before paper, palm leaf or Ola was the most popular material used for writing and painting in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand and Indonesia. In India, they have been used for more than 2,000 years. Scribes recorded much of India's literary and scientific heritage on these, etching letters carefully into the …

Patently bad drafting

The debate over a strong patents legislation has been characterised by sharply polarised positions. The arguments have been repeated ad nauseam since the Uruguay Round agreements entered into force on 1 January 1995

Ayurveda has no lobby

What's the future of ayurveda in USA? Traditional medicine systems are now growing faster in the us than even modern medicine. Ayurveda is not licensed for practice, unlike Chinese and naturopathic medicines and chiropractics licensed in some states. Of the people who do accept traditional medicine, around 10 per cent …

Indigenous knowledge and medicinal plants used by Vaidyas in Uttaranchal, India

The indigenous knowledge of Vaidyas (the traditional healers) on the making the herbal drugs was studied in the Uttaranchal state of India. Interview and semi-structured questionnaire surveys were conducted among 60 traditional Vaidyas on the preparation of various herbal drugs. The survey has resulted in compilation of 135 herbal drugs, …

Utilization of termite, Odontotermes formosanus by tribes of South India in medicine and food

Termites form an important part of the diet of human beings around the world including India. Many South Indian tribes including 'Kannikaran', 'Paniyan', 'Palliyan', 'Sholaga', 'Irular' and 'Kota' have been using the termite Odontermes formosanus Shiraki for the treatment of ashtma.

The inside story

The idea that food has therapeutic value is not a new one. Ayurveda, for instance, recommends diet regimes based on seasons and on an individual's constitution (see box: Take cues from traditional wisdom). And it's not just this ancient system of medicine. Traditional communities in most countries had dietary practices …

Healthy kya?

HERBAL BEER Looks, smells, even tastes like it. But is it beer? WHAT GOES IN? Pub-crawlers beware, herbal beer is just raw mango mixed with herbs (Andrographis or kalmegh and Tinospora or guduchi), fermented for a week. Besides mango (Mangifera indica), other fruit such as amla (Phyllanthus emblica), guava (Psidium …

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