Rice and Culture (Word Lore/ Folk Lore) Nellum Sanskrithiyum

Nellum Sanskrithiyum (Rice and Culture) --- V Sankaran Nair

The question, where on the earth did man domesticate and cultivate rice for the first time,
remains baffling, in the absence of any clue across the historic period of more than 10, 000 years. Today, a 2.5 billion strong population of South and South East Asia depends on this grain as their staple food. The journey of rice began with the emergence of wild rice, recorded to be in existence some 130 million years ago, in the Himalayan valley. Plant scientists and archeologists have taken earnest steps to find an answer to the question, from which side, the Indian or Chinese side, of the Himalayas, did the wild rice move from the Himalayan valley to the rest of Asia. Such investigations by many researchers have located South China, Bali, Laos, Thailand, North Vietnam and India. Still, a conclusive finding on the place of origin of rice cultivation remains elusive.
It is generally accepted that the word ‘rice’ originated from arisi (Tamil) and the Sanskrit word for plough, langala, came from nangol, a Munda/ Dravidian word. While the word ‘rice’ indicates trade relationship, langala indicates migration. Tracking the imprints traceable in language and culture, the author argues that the Tamil region where these two words are prevalent might be a probable place of origin and propagation of rice.
The book argues that man, during his hunting age, might have come across rice from the burrow of the rat, where it preserves the best seeds of rice gathered from the vicinity. Instead of being satisfied with rice obtained from the rats' homes man began his search for muddy land for rice cultivation, and that helped rice to reach new regions. The intimate relationship of the Norway rat, roof rat and house mouse with the humans is considered as commensal. The house mice Mus musculus domesticus accompanied the Neolithic farmers and attained many sub groups as a result of their adaptations to distant farms. Language is fossil history. Example is given when the etymology of rodent, rat, mouse, etc., is illustrated.
The book unravels the rituals and celebrations staged during the different phases of agriculture. The belief in the menstruation of the earth, found in Assam, Kerala and Rome, is one such. The Latin Februarius, related to the month of February, means "menses." This takes one to the time when women were the pioneers in agriculture. The beliefs related to the agriculture of our ancestors, and correlates the rituals found in Assam, Kerala and Rome with the origin of cultivation of rice.
Several place names associated with agriculture enable one to ascertain the phase of agriculture. ‘Nancil’ is one such that shows Nanchinad, the southernmost part of Tamil Nadu as the place of origin of cultivation of rice, in rain-fed marshy lands. The early man might have migrated to such lands that needed no ploughing. How long such cultivation prevailed is not easy to conclude. The journey in search of paddy fields enabled agriculture to spread to wetlands. While women dominated this area where the need for manpower was almost nil, men continued with the hunting life.
The introduction of the plough earned the place the name Nanchinadu, which is explained as the land of the plough. The farmers in Nanchinad, a region known for rice cultivation, celebrate the Makam asterism in the month of Kanni (Sept-Oct) as the birthday of rice. Elsewhere in Kerala it is known as padinaaram onam. Edgar Thurston, in his Castes and Tribes of Southern India, speaks about this ritual. Saptarshis and Makam are considered as stars related to agriculture and the word nangol means a plough/ ploughshare/ a plough shaft; a weapon shaped as a plough (halayudha); the tenth constellation magha, etc. The author argues that the word nangol migrated not only to the East and the North of India but also reached territories far away from India and bore meanings such as bear, bull, seven stars, ladle and plough. Further, his article entitled “Nanchinadu: Harbinger of Rice and Plough Culture in the Ancient World,” a post script to this book published in the net, validates this hypothesis. (http://www.boloji.com/environment/212.htm)
The introduction of the plough necessitated men to take up agriculture, and subsequently to involve bullocks in the process. Agriculture transformed the entire pattern of life of man, as it was a trade in which manpower was highly needed.
Etymology provides an incisive tool to trace the journey of man from the forests to the agricultural field. Research on several words helps one to go back to days of yore and to visualize the hunter man, abandoning his hunting life and adopting agriculture, in prehistoric times. This investigation leads one from Assam to the Celtic countries and to the period before Harappan civilization.
While in other countries the origin of rice cultivation is shrouded in myths, we observe in India a form in which transition occurs. In interpreting such sources, the author of this book examines the culture of a people who grew along with the cultivation of rice. The advancement of man began after he domesticated wild rice and started cultivating in naturally evolved fields. He domesticated bullocks and engaged them to pull the plough.
This multidisciplinary study has made a new beginning by arguing that the settlement pattern based on rice cultivation originated in India and preceded riparian civilization. The study of the origin of rice cultivation that lies in the distant past, takes one to the pre-Harappan days. It unfolds the strength of etymology, especially of Malayalam and Sanskrit words, to investigate the antiquity. Authentication of the contentions is possible if the research carried out is extended by including all the Dravidian and other ancient languages.
As a sequel to this book, the author has completed the draft for three books on the theme, which offers enough knowledge potential for further study. This book has a theme on antler worship found in practice in Travancore. In fact, the antler was used as the primitive plough and the people adopted the matriarchal system imitating the antelope society.
Many fossilized words and rituals survive many traditions. They are not even understood any-more. This erudite study using etymological analysis and interpreting astrology and epics opens an interesting subject for extensive discussions at the intellectual level. The theme as well as the methodology makes this book a pioneer in the field. The book can be claimed as the biography of a single word ‘nangol.’