The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Madurai News : Call to revive indigenous knowledge of the seas

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Friday, Apr 01, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Madurai

Call to revive indigenous knowledge of the seas

By Our Staff Reporter

MADURAI, MARCH 31. Speakers at a two-day national seminar on `Traditional understanding of riddles of ocean,' being held under the aegis of the Department of Folklore, Madurai Kamaraj University, today underscored the need to revive indigenous knowledge on oceans and coping with natural calamities in order to improve quality of life and allaying perennial apprehensions of large-scale destruction whenever a calamity strikes.

The seminar assumed significance as it was being organised in the post-tsunami scenario and would throw light on intricate means by which our ancestors coped with such disasters, the Vice-Chancellor, P. Maruthamuthu, said.

Inaugurating the seminar, he said the mankind's inability to counter the problems arising out of natural calamities was because it had ceased to live in harmony with nature. Instead of growing trees, the green carpet was mindlessly destroyed and this in turn altered the alchemy of Mother Nature.

"We should learn to grow with nature and discern it comprehensively," he said adding the fishermen who lived closely with the sea had, over generations, evolved knowledge of the seas. However, more knowledge ought to be obtained on why the tsunamis occurred and how to cope with them.

The Professor of Folklore, S. D. Lourde, deploring that importance was not being attached to indigenous knowledge, said that indigenous knowledge held solutions to the numerous problems encountered by mankind and there was an urgent need to unearth it.

He underscored the need to undertake comprehensive research on oceanology and marine biology to understand the intricacies of seas better. "Tradition is the touchstone of folktale and folklore is artistic communication in a small group," he said and added that traditional knowledge should be unearthed and brought out in book form for the benefit of mankind.

The Regional Assistant Director of the Department of Arts and Culture, N. Sulaiman, chaired the session. The Syndicate member, Samuel Paul Raj, the Professor and Head, Department of Folklore, I. Muthiah, and G. Sethuraman, Professor, Department of Art History, spoke.

Earlier, a Syndicate member, P. M. Ajmal Khan, explained the occurrences of earthquakes. Another Syndicate member, M. Navaneetha Krishnan, said the ancient mariners depended on the stellar constellation for navigation.

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