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Culture and agriculture

It converts every drop of sweat into a bead of grain

Culture commenced with agriculture. Man remained mad and was a nomad before embarking upon cultivation. Tillage initiated the era of non-violence. Land was reclaimed and labour acclaimed while learning the secrets of nature. It transformed soil and soul.

We began as carnivores, became omnivores and ended as herbivores with the advent and advancement of agronomy.

We moved on to farming from hunting and relished consuming usufructs instead of blood and flesh to satiate quench our hunger.

Domesticated animal

Woman taught man about nature. She wondered at the sprouting of fallen seeds and pursued their growth meticulously.

Still, she retains the art of wondering intact without any adulteration.

She learnt how nature suo moto proliferates. She inherently understood the intricacies of reproduction as she had firsthand knowledge of procreation.

She contemplated and conceived the idea of farming to avert poaching and avoid danger. Man became her pupil and woman his pedagogue.

She paved the way for safe settlement with peace so that men need not congregate to fight with wolves for the same piece of meat.

All docile animals were domesticated by her. She helped them in shedding their claws and ferocity by stroking them constantly and administering copious doses of love and warmth.

Man learnt compassion, affection, sympathy and empathy from her. As Will Durant said, man was the last animal to be domesticated by woman.

He moved from caves to homes, matriarchy to patriarchy, movement to settlement and segregation to family by virtue of his proprietary over land.

All social institutions were offsprings of his attachment to land.

Even today, women for minimum wages do crucial cropping operations.

Men plough, sow, manure and thrash whereas women plant, transplant, weed and harvest. Thus, cumbersome and backbreaking practices are dexterously done by women, constituting the backbone of husbandry.

Rousseau acknowledged, "The first and most respectable of all arts is agriculture". Gibbon remarked, "Agriculture is foundation of manufactures".

Shakespeare appreciated, "Let me not assistant for a state but keep a farm and cater".

Whittier eulogised, "Who sows a field or trains a flower or plants a tree is more than all".

Thomas Jefferson proclaimed, "Those who labour in the earth are the chosen people of God". R. G. Ingersoll declared, "To plough is to pray".

Emerson concluded, "The glory of farmer is that in division of labour. It is his part to create. All trades rest at last on his primitive activity". Oliver Goldsmith prophesised, "But a bold peasantry their country's pride when once destroyed can never be supplied".

Learning from nature

Seed is miracle in miniscule and universe in capsule. Every new leaf it turns enriches environment.

It establishes a link between terrestrial depths and celestial heights.

It demonstrates that roots are always invisible and if they endeavour to show off, the tree gets extirpated.

Tree offers sanctuary for aviary, asylum for apiary, shelter for wayfarers, and refuge for cattle.

It provides podium for our winged brethren to conduct their orchestra. It lives upto the `parable of sower'.

Fragrant flowers fall to prostrate roots, the root cause for their forthcoming. Soil educates us that it takes years to build and minutes to erode.

Sylviculture binds us with existence. Growing a plant or vine or shrub connects us with the soul of nature. We too foliate with their luxuriance.

We become harmonious with our surroundings. We feel elated and delighted. It becomes an act of great creativity and a fulcrum for life to revolve around.

It brings mirth in our vague routine affairs and colours our black and white moments. Labour on land is a productive exercise par excellence. It converts every drop of sweat into a bead of grain.

Toiling, reaping and sharing are three fundamental norms essential to convert earthly existence into a heavenly experience.

We can plant if not a tree at least a herb so as to repay one millionth of what we have derived from our cosmos.

It will be a real fruitful venture and, with dedication, a meditation.

V. IRAI ANBU

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