Topic started by sankaran (@ 202.88.232.89) on Thu May 22 11:39:02 .
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Where is the birthplace of rice ?
Report forwarded by the "Diverse Women for Diversity" listserver, August 2001
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Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India July 24: Is Nanchinadu birthplace of rice?
A Kerala researcher has come up with linguistic and etymological evidence to contend that rice cultivation began, for the first time in the world, in the Nanchinadu region of Kanniyakumari district of Tamil Nadu.
The farmers in the sleepy villages of Nanchinadu, comprising the Thovala, Kalkulam and Agastheeswaram taluks, are perhaps the only people in the world who celebrated, till recent times, the birthday of rice.
The unique observance of the birthday on the 'Makam' asterism in the Malayalam month of 'Kanni' (August-September) is giving an added thrust o the contention that cultivation of rice, the staple food of over half of the world population, began in this part of south India and gradually migrated to other parts of the country and the world, according to Dr V Sankaran Nair who has done extensive research into the etymology of farm-related Malayalam words.
__________To the roots of 'njengol'
"If we can examine the spirit of words associated with agriculture, we can capture the time and the period as well as the site. The word 'njengol' (plough) has offered such an opportunity to unravel the mystery of the origin of cultivated rice in India", said Dr Nair.
Asko Parpola, who had deciphered the Indus scripts, had pointed out that the Rig Veda had borrowed from the Dravidian languages words such as 'phalam', 'mukham' and 'khala'.
The Harappans used a plough and the Rig Vedic word for it, 'langala', was probably derived from proto-Dravidian 'nangol', a variant of 'njengol'.
There are examples of the replacement of the proto-Dravidian 'n' with 'l' in Indo-Aryan, even if the etymon might ultimately go back to Austro-Asiatic.
According to Dr Nair, a study on the word 'njengol' that reached Harappa through the Dravidian language-speaking belt would give a clue to the history of rice cultivation.
The actual words for the plough spoken in this Dravidian language belt are: 'nancil' (Tamil), 'negal' (Kannada), 'nelg' (Kota), 'nengi' (Kudagu), 'neyeru' (Tulu), 'nagali' (Telugu), 'nangel' (Godi), 'nangelli' (Kuwi), 'nangar' (Naiki), 'nangli' (Naiki), 'naneli' (Kolami), 'nagil' (Parsi), 'nangal' (Gadaba), 'nangala' (Pali) and 'langala' (Sanskrit).
The regional variations of the word indicate the linguistic area covered by the word 'nangol', on its onward march towards Harappa. Two words 'nam' (oxen) and 'kol' (staff/stick) merged to form this word. These two words, combined to denote the yoke kept on the shoulders of the oxen came to be known as 'namkol' and was transformed into 'nangol' in the course of time.
"If the Harappan culture, which claims a lifetime of more than 5,000 years, is familiar with the word 'nangol', the plough that they used must be the one that they received from Nanchinadu. When we take into account the time and distance that the word took to reach the Harappan site, the origin of the plough in Nanchinadu might have taken thousands of years further back", he said.
"No wonder, the place in which the plough originated came to be known as Nanchinadu. Etymologists interpret the word as 'the country where there are several fields, the land that is cultivated with the help of the plough and the land of the plough'", he added.
History speaks that the people of Nanchinadu led a life rearing cattle. A group of people of that background alone could design a plough. In ancient times, the people of the area might have cultivated the grain in the mire with a 'kol' and later on with the help of a hoe, which could be dragged on the marshy soil with ease. Plough replaced this hoe, only at a later period.
__________Rice and 'arici'
According to scholars the word rice had a Dravidian root and that 'ris', 'riz', 'rice', 'oruza' and 'arrazz' all came from 'arici', a Tamil/Malayalam word for rice. 'Arici' became 'arruz' in Arabic and 'oruza' in Greek. From the Arabic traders the word passed on to other linguistic communities forming a language chain of the rice culture.
In the absence of written records, the material remains, found from archaeological excavations, tell about the way of life of the people who lived there during the pre-historic period. The discovery of carbonised rice grains and artifacts, dating back to 8,000 years, at the Jiahu site marked an important event in Chinese agriculture archaeology.
In India, 36 archaeological sites have shown traces of rice cultivation, Mohenjo-Daro being the earliest site among them, as an old grain sample from here dates from about 2500 BC. Terracotta toy plough, unearthed from Mohenjo-Daro, was also proof enough to say that the Harappans used a plough in their agricultural activities thousands of years ago.
As wooden plough was perishable, it was out of question to look for a primitive plough from an excavation site. The discovery of a ploughed field, to the southeast of the pre-Harappan settlement, was considered as the earliest of its kind anywhere in the world.
He said several mythologies existed centering this plant throughout the world. In Bali, the belief was that Lord Vishnu caused the Earth to give birth to rice and Lord Indra taught the people how to cultivate. As Indra and Vishnu were Indian deities, their presence in the Burmese mythology was an indication of the Indian connection, he added.
"That rice cultivation has its origin in India is evident from the references made about rice in Hindu and Buddhist religious writings and practices, where it is an item offered to the Gods. However, in the Jewish scriptures of the Old Testament and in the early Egyptian records such references are conspicuous by their absence", he pointed out.
__________No claims from India
He said, "China and others have put forward several claims before the international community that rice cultivation began in their respective countries, but India, it seems, is not concerned to join the discussion and argue out its case in the era of bio-technology and bio-diversity.
According to Dr Nair the etymological road map held some clue to prove the suggestion that the southern tip of India was the home of rice. Apart from 'nangol', another word of significance was 'Kazhikudi', the name by which Kanniyakumari district, of which Nanchinadu formed a part, was known once upon a time.
The varying meanings such as mire, handle of the hoe and the yoke attributed to this word would suggest different stages of development of cultivation. The marshy land where cultivation was begun served as the cradle of rice in the beginning.
This land needed no hoe or plough for cultivation. With the passage of time the need for more such land was felt. That must have set them moving in search of new marshy land.
Balarama, the Indian god for agriculture, is known by a plethora of titles. He is called 'Nanchilan' (one who wields the plough) in Nanchinad. This name is unique to the region and no mention of it is found anywhere else.
__________Where plough followed rice
Dr Nair said plough followed cultivation only in the land of the birth of rice. In all other areas, plough and rice cultivation were introduced simultaneously. Nanchinad was called the land of the plough and it was perhaps the only place where the birthday of rice was reverentially observed.
All these would show that Nanchinadu, once considered the rice bowl of the erstwhile Travancore kingdom, was the original birthplace of rice.
More studies including archeological investigations were called for to satisfy the intellectual curiosity of those in search of the real habitat of the rice and the plough, he said.
Perhaps an inquiry into the ritual observed by many a 'tharavad' (ancestral house) in the area till recently to mark the birthday of rice would throw more light on the origin of rice.
On the 'Makam' asterism of 'Kanni', the second month of the Malayalam calendar, the head of family collects seven grains of paddy from the field or from the street, brings them to the well for a ceremonial wash. Two grains are then thrown away at these two places and the remaining five are placed on a 'salwar' and kept in the puja room for worship.
That day no one will till the land or cook rice. A feast with non-rice preparations is arranged for the workers of the field. According to belief, the seven grains denote the 'Saptharshis' (seven sages) and the five grains selected for worship represent the 'Makam' asterism which is la constellation of five stars. (UNI)
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