Women of
Konkan (
Women of
Konkan (
Environmental
experiences of women from different regions of
As an
example of using turmeric powder in food, medicine or for cosmetic purpose is
common knowledge throughout
It is also difficult to define the social position of castes in
For the
purpose of this paper the categories of women and their experiences of
environment are referred from their social position i.e. the caste system, in
the Hindu tradition. This paper will focus on rural Hindu women of the coastal
region of
This paper
will also indicate some similarities and differences in the environmental
experiences of women of Konkan with those of North American women. It may be
useful to indicate the differences in the environmental attitudes regarding
conservation and preservation of nature and women’s role in it. However this
paper does not attempt to present a comparative study of American and Konkani
(of Konkan region) women’s environmental experiences or the role of women in
the contemporary environmental movement.
Sources for the study.
Most of the
studies related to Konkani women are undertaken from sociological, cultural,
economic or feminist perspectives, but some of them have links to the environment.
In this essay I have put together Konkani women’s environmental experiences by
referring to such written resources and books. I have also referred literary
sources, and biographical works of Konkani women. I have also referred my own
notes and transcripts generated between March to July 1999, in relation to the
study of the status of Konkani women in saline land affected villages with an
aim to develop a program to help them. In this paper I have not touched the
environmental experiences of urban (Mumbai) women because of the limitation of
space. This also helped me maintain the
focus on the traditional pattern of women’s lives, observed as of today in
rural areas rather than the urban women who maintain superficial ties with the
traditions.
Konkan
region is a coastal area between the
The
seasonal, geographic, climatic and natural variations reflect on the variety of
lifestyles of the people of the region. The beautiful white sand beaches with
coconut groves, thick teak forests along the river valleys, and dry rocky
plateaus at a little higher elevation can all be found within a short distance.
The settlements are located where water, vegetation and seafood is in ample
supply. Main crop of the region is rice, which is grown mostly in the monsoon
season of four months and all efforts are made to bring every kind of land, such
as slopes on hills, rocky ground as well coastal saline lands under
cultivation. A second crop of oil seeds and beans follows the rice in some
places where there is some irrigation available. The forests, though depleted,
consist of a rich variety of trees that is source lively hood for local people.
The
laterite stone, a sort of red soft stone found in the southern part of the
region is cut into blocks and used for walls of the houses. The sloping roof is
made from timber with clay tiles as well as dry coconut leaves woven as roof
panels. A kind of reed (locally known as Karvi) is used to construct panels for
the walls of houses in the north, which is then covered with mud paste and
plastered with cow dung. Houses are raised on platforms, floors are flattened
and consolidated and covered with cow dung layer. All materials used for rural
house construction are generated from local sources and houses are constantly
maintained and last for generations. A typical architectural style of housing
is unique to Konkan. The houses are constructed by masons and carpenters who
are well trained in the family tradition of construction based on the Vastu
Shastra (Indian architectural science).
Konkani men
and women have to wander through variety of landscapes for livelihood and
social interactions. Role of women is important for the paddy cultivation and
hence their position in society is much different than in other parts of
Mahrashtra. This region was part of the traditional matriarchal social system
in which worship of earth Goddess was important. Even today Goddess cult is
dominant in this part. During the colonial rule the Konkani women continued
with the life in the villages while men increasingly migrated to Mumbai in
search of work, first for construction of docks and then as labor for
industries (Bagve A. page 170).
Social and economic position: The Brahmin
caste is considered at the top of the Indian hierarchical social and Hindu
religious system. The men do work related to knowledge. They teach Sanskrit,
religion, language and literature, philosophy, farming, mathematics, astronomy,
astrology, politics, medicine, accountancy, legal system (Gazateer of Bombay
presidency, Ratnagiri and Sawantwadi districts, page 113). The women of this
caste had right to the same knowledge some earlier times (Sane G. Page 7) but
subsequently the women were cut off from it and they performed the support
function for the men. Women thus acquired knowledge but had little rights to
participate in social and religious interactions like men. Today most Brahmin
women are educated and some have entered the formal jobs in the villages like
teaching, medicine etc. Most Brahmin women in Konkan continue with the work of
looking after the horticulture gardens (My notes).
Women also have the responsibility of managing the farm products and arranging storage and preservation and processing for the year round consumption. Knowledge about various food preservation and storage techniques is well developed by the Brahmin women. They use dried Neem[iv] leaves for the dried grains to protect from fungus in rainy season. Most of the summer months are busy days for the women. They have to arrange for sun drying of all kinds of foods in the front yards including drying of raw mangos, tamarind, kokam (a red fruit used in daily cooking), jack fruits, bananas and prepare pickles, jams and spices in large quantities for the year round use. Front yards of their houses look attractive and colorful in the summer months with red chillies, yellow tamarind, variety of green, white and brown beans and mustard seeds and many more products (my notes). Pickles, fruit juices and jams are kept in the Sun as a preservation technique.
Knowledge of environment. The
Brahmin women mostly work in their homes and gardens and visit the sea-shore
for recreation.
Brahmin
women have keen knowledge about certain foods and plants, seeds and their
medicinal properties. Brahmin women follow recommended diet before and after childbirth.
They are also very about child upbringing. A novel called “Shamchi Aai” (Sham’s mother in Marathi) is an epic story
written by Sane Guruji, a freedom fighter from Konkan and a film based on it
became very popular. The Brahmin women work very hard and enjoy considerable
power and respect in the family and villages due to their knowledge. A local
proverb says give waste land to a Chitpavan and he will turn it into gold.
(Gazateer of Bombay presidency, Ratnagiri and Sawantwadi districts, page 113).
But in reality it is done by women most of the time. My visit to village Asood,
(Taluka Dapoli) which is mostly inhabited by the Chitapawan Brahmins was very
revealing. The terraced horticulture gardens have a very intricate irrigation
channel system and water from a perennial source from the top of a nearby hill
is brought to the plantation. The garden system is at least 400 year old. In
hot summer afternoon the garden remains cool and breezy and a pleasant place
for siesta.
Middle class/ caste farmer women
Social and economic position: This is the
largest group of Konkan population. Locally known as Marathas and Kunabis they
comprise of nine groups in Ratnagiri and Sawantwadi area ( Gazateer of Bombay
presidency, Ratnagiri and Sawatwadi districts, page 121). The main crop grown
by the community is paddy. Other crops like millet, maize etc. are cultivated
on hill slopes and rocky lands in rainy season.
Unlike Brahmin women, most of the farmer women have to spend their time
in fields. The farms are small and distributed at different locations hence the
women have to walk to reach them. There are different types of soils in Konkan
and one has to have perfect knowledge of farming practices of each type. Rice
varieties, propagation methods and cultivating practices differ for each type.
Women generally don’t plough the earth and men don’t do transplanting. The
ground for rice plantation is cleared, ploughed to loosen soil and allowed to
get exposed to sun in April and May. The paddy fields are surrounded by raised
bunds (12 inch tall dykes made from stone and earth). In summer all men and
women leave home early morning along with children and animals before it is too
hot and work in the fields till
Some years back value of frogs for controlling pest in the rice fields became apparent in the region. Frog population depleted in fields when farmers were attracted by the demand Mumbai the export market. Soon the fields were found infested by a pest called Khodkida. When the relationship of frogs and this insect became clear, government banned the frog exports. (My notes)
Most farmer
families have cows and bullocks. Women’s knowledge has been the mainstay of the
indigenous dairy industry. “Dairying, as
managed by women in rural
Diet of
farmer community is different than the Brahmins. Except in the four months of
rainy season they eat meat, chicken, eggs, and variety of fish and use lot of
spices and coconut in preparation. Rice and Nachani
(also known as ragi) are part of their diet.
Knowledge of environment.
Women take part in most religious functions and visit temples like Brahmin women. Local fairs and festivals and weekly market trips to nearby towns are must for the women. These women also collect firewood from forests for their own consumption. Green grass and leaves are collected for animals. Knowledge of tidal cycles, seasons, and sky is essential part of their daily life. Geographical knowledge of these women is much more extensive as they walk a lot in the region compared to Brahmin women. They cross rivers, creeks in boats quite often and also climb hills when they graze their animals in the dry season. Variety of berries, fruits and nuts are collected. Cashew and mango plantations are on higher grounds and women collect cashews and fruits from the plantations. The saline land affected farmers have to plant special variety of rice after leaching out salt from first showers even though yield is much lower. Most of the women preserve good quality seeds for the next season. Hence they have to know all the techniques of preserving.
Most of the
training for women starts an early age. Young girls take care of siblings in
homes and on farms, collect water from common wells or go to river to wash
clothes and cook food when elder women are busy with farm work. In last few
years the formal education among girls has improved substantially in the region
however it is not uncommon for girls to walk few miles to school and high
schools.
Many land
holdings are small and not sufficient to provide food for the families. Many
families migrate to other regions and towns to find work for six months. They
generally have good established network of such work places and hence their
experiences are varied and rich about other regional environments and farming
practices.
Women of fishing caste
Environmental experiences. Fishermen
community lives very close to the coast but they generally select higher and
rocky grounds, that provides grand view of the Sea and creeks. They use the
beach for parking their boats, repair and net repairing. Long bamboo poles and
wooden soars are used for navigation. Women rarely accompany the boats. But
they have keen eye for all the details of the seacoasts. Women collect crabs
and shells from the rocky areas. They know about the high low tide timings and
have keen sense of the habitats of the creatures. Crabs collected on certain
days of the month are big and fleshy. Harnai and
Knowledge of environment:
Environmental
experiences of the fisher women largely are related to the sea. They have keen
knowledge about mangroves, weeds and trees, sea animals and fish. They also
have keen knowledge of celestial movements. Four months of rainy season are
lean season for the community. No fishing is undertaken as the sea is rough and
the strong winds are dangerous. On the full moon day in the fourth month of the
season a special day celebrations usher in the fishing season and men and women
dance on the beaches singing songs in praise of the Sea. These folk songs are
generally based on the rhythm of the waves and well known dance form of the
region. Fisher women dress themselves for the occasion in bright colorful
sarees and ware lot of flower garlands on head and bodies. Offering coconut and
flowers to the sea is an essential part. They also go on pilgrimage to the
Goddess temples on hills along with children. Their diet is quite similar to
that of farming community. Walking to markets carrying fish for sale is
everyday task for the women.
Land less middle caste and lower caste women.
Traditionally
lower caste people settled on the outskirts of villages at a little distance
from main settlements. They had to perform certain services for the villages
and had a right to the agricultural produce from the village. Now this system
is legally abolished and most of the people have come to stay in cities like
Mumbai where they have better economic and social environment. Very few lower
caste families are found in Konkan compared to other regions. But land-less
families are substantial in number.
Konkani Women’s attitude towards environment: Attitude of society is the product of knowledge and experience as well as cultural and religious views. When the knowledge is part of the daily experience, part of informal ritual and behavior norm in society, the rational thought behind it is difficult to evaluate. Knowledge system of such a society, evolved over many centuries, is often viewed as cultural heritage and its knowledge value and its environmental content is not understood. Understanding of such knowledge poses difficulty for others when there is no common evaluation and translation system. Thinking about environmental experiences of Konkani women, the differences between the American approach towards environment became apparent. The main difference is that the American women had to fight men on environmental issues[viii] from their own class for conservation and preservation of environment. They had to seek state help and legal forms for protection. The unconscious but highly effective social norms of Konkani women achieve conservation and preservation of environment in a much different manner. It is a fact that the conflict with the state and the commercial interests which have been instrumental in partially destroying the balance of the environment is of last one century and a half. The difference in the approaches is well documented by the Indian environmentalist Dr. Vandana Shiva. “The economy of many Third world communities depend on biological resources for their sustenance and well being. In these societies, biodiversity is simultaneously a means of production and an object of consumption. The survival and sustainability of livelihood is ultimately connected to the conservation and sustainable use of biological resources in all their diversity. Tribal and peasant societies’ biodiversity-based technologies, however, are seen as backward and primitive”. (Mies M. & Shiva V. page 165)
Coservation
Certain
common cultural factors such as knowledge about the region, Konkani language
with all its dialects and styles of speaking, foods, clothing house
construction and attitudes towards nature, animals and plants, common
mythological roots, festivals and functions, customs and rituals have a common
regional flavor. Konkani women can easily be identified by their dress codes
and language by the outsiders. The more knowledgeable person and keen observer
can identify the caste, social and economic positions of the women and their
occupation. The common dress of Konkani women is nine yard saree and a blouse.
However style of wearing the saree is closely linked to the work the women do.
Flexibility of the nine yard saree allows it to be used as a complete cover for
the body with a shawl for wrapping around for the upper caste women. It can
also be worn in such a fashion, which allows women to do all necessary work.
The saree, when pulled high above knees and tightly secured to body with knot
at the waste[ix]
such as done by farmer women facilitates all kinds of movements. It is
convenient for climbing hills, working in fields, climbing trees to cut the
branches for fire wood, or enter in the sea for a swim or collecting shells and
fish in it, or do domestic work in and around the house[x].
It also provides head cover as protection from sun. As compared to the
traditional flowing dresses of western middle class women[xi]
of earlier periods the dress of Konkani women appears to be extremely
functional and suitable for the environment. The young women ware a long skirt
until they are married and when it is divided and secured to waist it provides
same flexibility as shorts. Few women have luxury of having more than 2 sarees
in a year and old sarees are quilted together by women and used as sleeping
covers. Multiple layers provide the luxurious warmth in winter, while smaller
quilts made from sarees are cherished by children. Even in rich families it is
not uncommon to use the old, used cotton sarees for such purpose. The white
loin-cloth worn by men and sarees thus give same functional freedom to men and
women.
Major
traits and the patterns of behavior of Konkani people, which is in fact related
to the Konkan environment is the art of conservation refined by the Konkani
women. Konkani women are often touted by other people for their extreme
thriftiness. However looking from the environmental perspective the value of
their behavior is immense for their survival in challenged environment. Use of
all the available natural resources including trees, plants, animals, birds,
forests, rivers, creeks, mountains and recycling techniques of Konkani women
will be a great topic of research. An example of use of cow-dung will not be
out of place here. The dung is a valued commodity. Small girls and boys are
trained to keep watch for this valued product wherever they are. They collect
the cowdung from streets, forest paths, markets, grazing grounds and collect it
in baskets and carry it home. This precious resource is then put to multiple
use. Dung cakes are made by mixing coal
powder, rice husk or dried rice stalks and dried in sun for storage for use as
fuel. When the fuel is burned the fine ash is used for cleaning brass and metal
utensils while the coarse parts are transferred to the farms as valuable input.
The cow-dung is used for plastering the floors, walls of houses. It is also
used for plastering the woven bamboo baskets, silos for storage of rice, known
as kanagi and other farm products.
Mixed with water, the dung is sprayed by women in the front and the back yards
of the houses. On this surface decorative floral patterns and symbols are drawn
in white stone powder rangoli[xii],
and red kumkum[xiii]
and yellow turmeric powder[xiv].
Rangoli is introduced near the entrance as a welcome gesture. This practice
effectively reduces the dust entering the house. The surplus dung is converted
in compost for the farm in the back yards along with other bio waste. The dung
is also used to plaster the wood burning stove every day. In recent years the
cow dung is valued for its use in gobar[xv]
gas plants, which have been installed with government subsidy in many
households which produce gas for household burners and gives rich manure from
the residual slurry. The art of tribal women[xvi]
from north Konkan district of Thane, which depicts all the common environmental
activities of women on the external dung covered walls of their reed huts has
become very popular and extensively used by the textile industry and interior
designers as ethnic art form. The Warli art of women depicts the daily work of
women related to environment, animals, plants, and tools used by them.
Conservation
of natural products is a second nature for Konkani women. The coconut palm is
famous for its multiple uses and for its zero waste. In fact the tree is called
Kalpataru[xvii].
Knowledge of women about the plants, trees, flowers, seeds, along with the
properties of each, techniques of collecting, preserving and converting such
natural resources into useful products is commonly practiced art developed by
women over many centuries. Medicinal potions are prepared by women in homes
from commonly available herbs, which provide cheap remedies for minor ailments.
The new born babies are massaged, bathed with special herbs, coconut oil and
given a daily dose of a paste prepared from multiple herbs and roots, freshly
ground on sahan[xviii]
which provides micro quantities of preventive medicines. Similarly special
herbal compounds are prepared for the mother to facilitate lactation[xix].
Paste prepared from sambarshing, a
piece of horn of dear is commonly used for muscle relief and sprain. The
knowledgeable women, who maintain small stock of medicinal roots, dried herbs,
seeds, and fruits. The women are respected in the community and there is no fee
charged for consultation or medication. Midwives who assist in childbirth are
traditionally trained through the women’s network. Most of the village women
even today deliver at home assisted by the midwives however nurses trained in
modern schools are appointed by the government and their help is appreciated by
the village women more for family planning. They combine traditional practices
with modern medicines which is found to be popular and inexpensive strategy. Such
knowledge is passed from generation to generation[xx]
through the women’s informal networks.[xxi]
The need is to record all these practices systematically and researched for
their value.
The Konkani
style sea food and vegetarian food has become a recent rage in cities like
Mumbai. Five star hotels regularly held Malavani food festivals in their
restaurants[xxii].
While Malavani restaurants are doing great business in other urban areas and
tourist centers in Konkan. The culinary art and variety of foods from Konkan
refined and developed by women over past centuries is now a big business.
The
knowledge about the celestial bodies like stars and constellations, the sun and
the moon, tidal movements, seasonal cycles and patterns, are well understood by
the women in a very informal fashion. The Indian Almanac is interpreted by the
priests and seasonal cycles, rituals, farming activities, fishing schedules,
are set in motion by the same. The food and eating habits are intricately
connected to the caste, women’s work, their age, and state i.e. pre and post
childbirth conditions as well as seasons. In the four months of monsoon, meat
and fish is strictly avoided by all the castes. From environmental perspective
this is a valuable practice[xxiii].
The life
styles of Konkani people have evolved through the common Indian philosophical
tradition of relating to the nature. Humans are entitled to the natural
resources for their biological sustenance but they have no right to cause
damage to the environment. Human activities leading to destruction of natural
environments are strictly prohibited. Thus when women collect firewood, only
dried branches are pruned and carried home. Trees often uprooted in natural way
are put to use. Such practices not only provid useful material for human
consumption but also help in limiting the excessive consumption. Natural
balance between growth and decay was automatically maintained. Timber, bamboo,
and other materials are used for the shelters but forest cutting and
exploitation is a recent practice acquired from colonial rulers. The thick
forest cover extensively exploited by colonial powers, first for ship building
and later for railway construction and mono-culture plantations has rendered
Konkan ecosystem and its people vulnerable. Such actions have also caused
erosion of top soil silting most the rivers and creeks and robbing earth of its
fertile cover. Life styles Konkani people are thus related to the philosophy of
preservation of balance of nature. Material poverty of Konkani people is not a
tradition but a recent phenomenon and result of modern times. The Indian
society as a whole had maintained a delicate balance of nature and society
through the thick web of social customs, taboos, practices, mythological
stories, belief systems, through evolution, albeit at a lower level of
populations and consumption.
Preserving
the nature was not separate from the daily work nor was is practiced in
separate spaces like parks and gardens preserved by state authorities[xxiv].
Legitimate use of nature for needs was considered natural right of human being
but it was balanced with the duty of preservation. Nature was loved as well as
feared because the destruction was also part of the nature. Thus the idea of
conquest of nature is align to the Indian mind.
Another
important aspect of preservation of nature is attitude towards all the living
creatures. Plants, animals, birds, snakes, fish and even the forest animals
like tigers and elephants are not dreaded animals but are considered as
relations of human beings. Killing of animals for enjoyment of the activity is
never practiced. A useful custom observed is the pairing of animals with gods.
Each god has a favorite animal and hence to be respected. God Ganesha has
elephant face mounted on human body while God Shiva has bullock as his
companion. Lard Vishnu sits on the seat prepared by snakes themselves. Hence
except the most poisonous species it is taboo to kill snakes. Each animal
useful to man is also respected and gratitude is expressed through rituals. The
bullocks, the most useful animals for farming is thus a guest on a particular
day in the households and treated like human being and offered special food.
Cow is equated to mother and hence never killed but looked after till her death
like a family member[xxv].
The earth
is the life giver and women are equated to mother earth. Farming was invented
by women (Sane G. page 24) and the secrets of farming were then share by men.
In the Konkan region earth Godess continues to have supreme place in the
village life as she is considered as savior of life. “During the colonial period Mother India was the symbol and inspiration
for the struggle for independence against British colonialism. It was a
decolonizing category”. (Shiva V. page 108)
Conclusion.
In a fast globalizing world the issues of development, poverty and environment are creating challenges for which there seem to be no answers. Many Indian thinkers and scholars are rediscovering the heritage and meanings of the traditional values, which have remained intact in pockets. The question is how the people and their values will be preserved in face of the commercial forces and how their environmental experiences and knowledge can be put in the center stage of policy. Challenges of preserving human life, community and the environment are rather important than ever before for the world today.
I have
described the environmental experiences of the people, who are called ecosystem people (Gadgil, Guha page 3 ).
The category of people described by the authors in their book Ecology and
Equity
“India has been and remains a biomass based
civilization. By this we mean that majotiy of Indians depend on biomass
gathered by their own labor, or produced through low input agriculture to meet
most of the subsistence needs. They also exchange such biomass, at best
processed through simple manual labor, to acquire other materials and services
they consume on the market”.
As per 1991 census 74.3 percent of the Indian
population is rural based, and most of these people depend on cultivating their
own lands or working as laborers on other people’s lands for significant
fraction of their earnings (Gadgil Guha
page 133).
However it should be noted that most of the rural villages are located in regions which are threatened by the so-called modern development to various degrees. In many challenged areas initiative of local population is growing through new awareness to protect their environment. In few places, control of resources has been demanded and won by local people such as Uttar Kannda (Gadgil, Guha page 184). At few other places people are successfully regenerating and restoring the traditional systems of local village control and management of natural resources based on conventional wisdom which was discontinued in the colonial era.
Knowledge
of such traditional systems and rationale behind the same need to be understood
so as to help devise alternative policies to protect environment. Advocates of
alternative development policies have time and again expressed the importance
of women in preservation of environments and livelihood in
1.
Bagawe Anjali. Of
Women Caste, 1995 The experience of Gender in Rural India.Zed Books Ltd.
2.
Gadgil M. and Guha R. Ecology and Equity, The use and abuse of nature in contemporary
India1995, Routledge,
3.
Maria Mies and Vandana Shiva, Ecofeminism, 1993, Publishers, Kali for women,
4.
Gazetteer
of Bombay presidency, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg Districts, Volume
10, Part I and II, published by Govt. of Maharashtra. (Originally published in
1880)
5.
Gazeteer of
6.
Deshpande Suneeta, Ahe
Manohar Tari ( Memoires in Marathi), 1990, Mauj Prakashan Griha, Mumbai
7.
Shiva Vandana, Biopiracy,
The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge, 1997, South End Press,
8.
Robinson C.A. Tradition
and Liberation, The Hindu Tradition in the Indian Women’s Movement. 1999,
Curzon Press,
9.
Sane Geeta. Bharatiya
Stree Jeevan (Marathi) 1986, Mauj Prakashan Griha, Mumbai.
10. My own
notes and survey record collected during March 1999- July 1999.
11. Map of
Konkan reproduced from the
12. http://www.shubhyatra.com/htm/maharashtra/goldenstrip3.htm#At
Chiplun And Guhagar site
13. http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/maharashtra/index.html
Map of
[i] Cultural influences refer to
local people’s traditions, those of other races like Aryans, Jews, Arabians,
European as well as influences of other regional and religious traditions.
Konkan was a trading region for internal and external trade with many distant
lands.
[ii] Position of Chamar, the
leather processing caste has same social position and common all over Indian
continent.
[iii] The United States Patent and
Trade Mark Office (US PTO) has cancelled the patent it granted for the use of
turmeric as a wound healing agent at the intervention of the Council of
Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). R A Mashelkar Director General CSIR
said that the cancellation of the patent on turmeric powder is a significant
development of far reaching consequences for the protection of the traditional
Indian knowledge base in the public domain. This is perhaps the first case
where the use of
traditional knowledge base of a developing country. News item in Indian express, 24 August 1997. http://www.hvk.org/articles/0897/0113.html
[iv] Neem is a commonly found tree used for multiple purposes and has great medicinal and environmental value. Its use as pesticide is promoted as a green farming technique. Animals don’t eat the leaves.
[v] The author narrates an episode when a snake made a daily visit to her grand mother who was staying alone in the house, and it was considered as a protective guard by her. But ultimately it was killed by the relatives.
[vi] Sahyadri mountain ranges run parallel to Konkan coast and provided formidable challenge for British rulers.
[vii] In the book named Daughters of Maharashtra, majority of women are from families from Konkan region.
[viii] NRE 477 class notes and readings.
[ix] In this knot of saree women tuck wads of currency notes as the most secured place! Konkani women used to carry important documents in such a manner in times of freedom movement, unsuspected by the police.
[x] My mother, a tennis player in her college years in 1940’s had to ware 9 yard saree while playing as wearing shorts was a taboo in those years for any women. The Modern version of 5 yard saree is most inconvenient for work of women.
[xi] Reference from class notes
[xii] The art is also known as Rangoli, is considered as a necessary art for every woman.
[xiii] Red powder is made from turmeric powder and lamon juice, which is also apllied in a dot form by most Indian women. The widows have to avoid it.
[xiv] Turmeric powder.
[xv] Gobar is local word for cow
dung.
[xvi] Known as Warali art
[xvii] An ideal tree. The tender
coconut water, coconut flesh, shell, the fibrous cover, the trunks, leaves are
used for production of valuable commodities like edible oil, ropes, roofing
mats, supporting columns, decorative products.
[xviii] A round thick piece of a
particular stone is usually found in all households.
[xix] The Ayurvda, the traditional
medicine is now systematically researched by scholars and medical practitioners
like Dr. Sharadini Dahanukar from Mumbai.
[xx] It is known as grandmother’s
medicinal kit and maintained by most of the households in Maharashtra. My own
grandmother used to give these kinds of medicines to whoever needed them and
her surgeon husband used to value them!
[xxi] These informal networks are
now valued by the state medical system and is incorporated in the formal system
with varying degrees. My personal interview with two women village health
workers in a remote village in Konkan revealed a rich information about this
system.
[xxii] The famous Taj group of
hotels provide Malavani food regularly in their restaurants in Mumbai region.
[xxiii] The monsoon season is
important for fish breeding and animal propagation which can guarantee better
food supply
[xxiv] National park movement appears to be the product of urbanization rather than rural, traditional way of relating to nature.
[xxv] The festival called Bail Powala and is celebrated on the full moon night of third month in Monsoon when animals have no practical work.