Move to help indigenous people protect their culture

A revival of pristine Adivasi customs and traditions cannot be envisaged without including the irp marra or mahua tree (Madhuca indica) in the scheme of things.

Therefore, the new plan of the Adilabad district administration, perhaps the first of its kind in the country, to help indigenous people protect their culture hinges on plantation of mahua and introduction of the lesser known tasty savouries and eatables made out of the flowers of the sacred tree in the headquarter town, in near future.

“The food items coming out of the kitchens of aboriginal people have good shelf life and will be packaged and sold at the Prakruti store for organic vegetables in Collectorate Chowk,” Adilabad Collector D. Divya revealed.

There will also be an attempt towards getting the ethnic people to manufacture the famous heady brew from mahua flowers, the ippa sara or irp kal, aimed at weaning them away from the more dangerous Indian Made Foreign Liquor and marketing it sometime in the future, on the lines of the experiment in Bastar of Chhattisgarh.

“There certainly is more to mahua tree than the heady brew distilled from its flowers. It is the source of nutritious supplementary food and some potential economic activity for tribal people besides yielding fodder to the animals,” opined tribal teacher Kanaka Rao Ambaji from Marlavai in Jainoor mandal of Kumram Bheem Asifabad district.

Mahua trees come into bloom between latter half of March and April. Each tree sheds its flowers in the morning every day, over a period of 15 to 20 days and yields about 1.5 quintals to 2 quintals.

The customary puja is performed under the tree after the festival of holi, called duradi in Gondi, following which women and children collect the flowers. The collection is done at dawn and the flowers are subsequently put out to dry.

“The dried up flowers are roasted, made into balls or laddus called eruk gola, and used as a snack or stuffed into a roti. Other eatables are also made by roasting the dried up flowers with sesame and sunflower seed, besides the rarely found khade and churchal seeds,” Durva Nagubai, a Raj Gond elder, listed out some names of traditional supplementary food items.

“We will also sell the edible oil extracted from the kernel of mahua seed,’ the Collector disclosed. The practice of using mahua oil, called eruk niy, in preparation of food is almost lost,” she pointed out.

“Among other eatables which are made of the mahua flowers is the eruk jawa or gruel which is served when receiving the barat. Also, the gum of the tree, eruk chikada, is used to trap birds and small animals while the wood from a dead tree is used to make traditional musical instruments like a dhol,” Mr. Ambaji stated.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Telangana / by S. Harpal Singh / Adilabad – February 26th, 2019