Tag Archives: Rajasthan

Could Holika Dahan damage the environment?

08 Monday Sep 2014

Posted by in Indian Festivals, Tribal India

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Holika Dahan-II (Burning of Holika) By: Sonali De

Holika Dahan-II (Burning of Holika)
By: Sonali De

At a bus stop across from the Nashik shrine Sai Baba of Shirdi, a fire tree reminded me of Australia. The deciduous Red Silk Silk cotton tree, bombax ceiba, is commonly called Semal, or the Indian Kapok tree, or shalmali in Sanskrit.  Mentioned in the Mahabharata  mixed into old myths and traditions, it is also found in Africa.

In Ayurveda it is admired for its healing properties, and for the strength and elasticity of its wood, the Semal is essential for the ecology and Tribal culture.  Called Holi-Danda by tribals, it’ is the thorny tree of Yama, and is burned as Wicked aunt Holika during Holika-dahan in numbers that threaten the trees existence in Rajasthan

In Ayurveda almost every part of the plant is used.

However, in medicine mostly the roots and flowers are used as a stimulant, astringent, haemostatic, aphrodisiac, antidiarrheal, cardiotonic, emetic demulcent, anti-dysenteric, alterative, antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral, analgesic, hepato-protective, antioxidant, and hypoglycaemic.

It is also used in agro-forestry for livestock feed. The wood is strong, elastic and durable for ship building. The Kathodi tribe of Rajasthan uses wood for musical instruments such as the Dholak and Tambura. The Bhil use it to make kitchen spoons.

The edible oil is also a substitute for cottonseed for soap making and illumination. The fibres isolated from the fruits are used to make padded surgical dressings.

In myth bombax ceiba is the tree of the infernal imposition.

With its thorny appearance (kantakdruma), it is the tree of Yama , or Yamadruma. It is believed if the person dreams it, he will become ill and will soon die. In the Dungarpur district bombax ceiba  is considered inauspicious because the hooting owl nest in it. The Bhil of Udaipur believe the silk cotton from its fruit is not to be used in bedding because its plumed seeds are said to cause paralysis.

Also the ancient Brahamavaivarta Purana prohibits using it to clean teeth.

From Vedic times it was the Nakshatra tree of people in Jvestha constellation. It has been considered the home of the yakshis and was worshipped by women for the gift of children. For the semilia clan of the Bhil in Rajasthan it is a totem tree. The Garasia tribe in Bosa village near Sirobi district Rajasthan protect a tree in a sacred grove called Maad Bavasi and it is praised in song. They identify the tree with themselves.

Holika Dahann

Holika Dahann

 

Religious ritual and overuse

However, in Rajasthan the tree is under threat because of overuse, especially in tribal religious tradition.
The Kopak tree is popular among Tribals ritual, especially in Holika-dahan has caused a loss of trees loss of trees in Udaipur and Rajasthan.
Many know that during holika –dahan the flowers to develop eco-friendly colour. How ever in north India, especially Rajasthan , Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh, there is a tradition – believed essential – of burning the tree.
The ritual of burning is considered as virtuous Prahlad . Poles are planted a month before the festival and an effigy of Prahlad and Holika are tied over the prepared Holi.
The whole silk cotton tree or a large branch is tied with sacred thread, coconut or vermillion and dry grass and fixed to the ground on Magha Purnima (the full moon day preceding the month of Holika-dahan) after the cleansing and worshipping of the land.
Among the Bhils, before cutting a pole, a coconut is tied on a bough. Liquor is trickled and vermillion applied. The tree is cut to have head and two arms and the pole is removed from the burning pile. The traditional two armed Holi is still prepared and planted.
In the Bhil villages of the Banswara district bamboo is also painted with red cloth tied to it representing Prahlad whereas the Bombax ceiba tree considered is the wicked aunt Holika. Amongst the Kathodi tribes five poles of five different species.
Whatever the tradition the focal point is the fall and destruction of the semal tree.

Need for sustainable use

A community in Manipur conserve it and Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have conservation strategies to ensure the plant collected for medicine. However, those determined to perform the ritual have used songs to warn of upcoming forest guards.
In Udaipur city 1500-2000 trees were cut in 2007. The gravity of the situation listed 2351 villages in Udaipur district with an average 2300 young semal trees or twigs sacrificed.
Tree population has declined to the extent that other trees have been sold to a younger customer largely ignorant of the correct species.
The loss of the Kopak tree is damaging the environment, ecosystem and potentially loss of a very useful medicine and I wonder if the loss of the tree could have profound social implications. The Garasia tribe identify the tree with themselves in song. The moon and clouds are sung as father and mother, the village chief and his wife, brother and sister as the tree is praised as a relative.
Sadly, this same song is sung to warn the tree cutters of approaching forestry workers. As the Nakshatra tree of people in Jvestha constellation, a plantation of combex ceiba is something people expect. But if the tree is to continue to be honoured, then communities must be involved with in situ and ex situ conservation of the semal tree to preserve both the environment and this ancient tradition for future generations.

For further information:

Vartika Jain, S. K. Vernia, S. S.  Katewa,  Myths, traditions and fate of the multipurpose Combax ceiba L. – An appraisal  in the 2009 Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge Vol 8(4), Oct 2009, pp636-644

Rajasthan Red

23 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by in India

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Rajasthan red

It is in Rajasthan that I am reminded mostly of the Australian outback: stones change colour with the starkness of a Sydney Noland portrait. A colour both brutal and subtle. A surreal  not quiet desolate scene.  Arid, untidy, a mysterium of colour palette knifed across shimmering cornfields of northern state  cities in block colour: Agra is red, Jaisalmer yellow,Jodhpur blue, Udaipur  white, Jaipur is pink, while Mandawa and Nawalgarh are polychromies.

Contrast this with the colour anarchy of the soujthern states.

In Rajasthan I think It is Red.

The red of passion,  of “I am leaving you” agony, of smitten hearts, perhaps a Westerner I am fueled by images of artists living on art and love.

Yet, as women float by  I am reminded that in the past kapot or gray in ancient poetic art. Little mention of red with humans in their astra, vastra, abhushan, sana or vihara aspects. In earlier Indian art Devatas, apsaras and yakshas possess a gaur or fair complexion.

No women is dressed in or coloured in the red hue of passion.

It is now red is considered the colour of romance or shringara, the hue of fertility and auspiciousness.

Ragamala Ragini Vasanta

We must go back to the mediaeval Sur Sagar text o find women expected to wear red at the birth of a son of  Nanda. They anointed forehead and smear parting of their hair with red  with a dash of sinhur.

Perhaps it is in the 7th century Harshacharitra  text we have the earliest classification of  red. In the red on flowers and on rooster comb, pigeons feet.

Buddhists and Jain were the first  to use red in iconography texts: Jain siddhas and Buddhist Amitabha are required to be red and red is used in the tantric mandala. For Buddhist red was the colour of passion, hatred, subjugation fire aggregated sensation.

Yet red has no importance in the mural of Ajunta, or in manuscripts. Even the romantic old Gujurati scroll of 1493, the Vasanta Vilasa sparely uses red.

It is in pre Mughal and in Mughal & Rajasthani  ateliers of  the 16 – 18th century that red is important.

At this time paintings and manuscripts were symbols of power. It is  staggered to realise that manuscripts, books and paintings were often parts of a dowry. A Bijapuri Chronicle  reports two thousand manuscripts from a Deccani royal library were given as dowry  for the daughter of Bijapuri ruler Ibrakim ‘Adil Shah II and Mughal prince Daniyal.

phad painting Rajasthan

At times paintings exchanged were to assess an adversary’s character in efforts to press for political advantage. The above Ibrahim received a portrait from Jahangir personally inscribed verses  and a  ruby along with an authorisation to take territory from a rival Deccani ruler.

Similarly Sah Jahan forced a deal that compromised a Deccani ruer of Golkonda in 1635 and sealed the deal with a portrait of himself in gem encrusted frame. Mughals rulers valued MSS as prizes of war and the many Rajasthani princes  obliged to stay in Mughal courts were probably influenced by Mughal mural and miniature painting.

Samgrahanisutra manuscript

In this time of art equals power  Royal sanas were red to depict power, standing of a noble: Mughal and Rajput costume, the palaces and havelis, their tents, awnings .  Soon, married woman wore red  chuda (bangles) bindi (forehead mark) and nath or nose ring were  ornaments or suhag of a married woman. Red on the chunri or odhni of Rajput women indicate status or marriage, although  not initially necessary, because early Rajput society used the veil to suggest romantic nuances or feelings.

By the 17th century, the Mughal influence in North India had spread  bhakti movements like the riti kavyaij performing arts.

Perhaps red was highlighted because of the Bhafgavata Purana, Gita Purana. Rasikapriya and Sat Sai.

In Bhagavata Purana from Bikaner Krisna is cut out behind a red backdrop. Around Bundelkhand is painted a solid red backdrop. It is later that artists began to bleed art on to tree trunks as patrons sought to depict the moods of the nayika and nayika.

Bihari in his Sat sai evokes celebration of a nayika with rosy feet – like a red dhupahriiya flower blossoming with each step she takes. Called mahavaralaktaka, the ornament is also mentioned in Sanskrit poetry.

A nayika’s lips increasingly red as are hands feet. Red became the colour of beauty also of love, lust romance and amorous pleasures.

The art o applying alaktaka, red die to soles and sides of feet is a well developed alamkara or adornment of nayika women and for men.

Tree juice Alaktaka was essential for a womans shringara – especially for a nayika. Artists would ‘lab me liaf’ add red on the lips to show a nayikas portrait was complete.

In a poetic description, the Nakhshikh Varnan, from her tresses to her toes, forehead, lips gums hands and feet , a nayika is suffused with hues of red, especially at festivals. Eating of pan – became common for courtesans  – even those who did not eat it would colour their feet .

An abundance of red cloth filled Medieval india. In the Kapar Kutuhal we read of lakharas or dye of laquer that adds “a million fold lustre”.

Now even  the seasons have their own shade of red:

Chaitra/March-April
jyestha/May June		 Rose pink
Bhadrapad /july -august Malaygiri or red sandalwood
Ashvin /sept -oct Kasumal pink red
Kartik nov dec Sindhuria orange red
Magh jan-feb Kesariya or saffron, ul-e-anar pomegranate

So now in Rajasthan we find the red of fertility and auspiciousness. The nuanced reds is of love and romance.

Other concerns however invade my mind: There are maany Rajasthan tradition suffering under the onslaught of mass produced art, and marketed music…Check out th Efforts to save the endangered oral traditions of Rajasthan: Vishesh Kothari.

Sources:
The material for this post is primariy from material of Aesthetics of red in Rajasthani paintings by Naval Krisna