Sree Gandha or the sandal wood is a very special & unique species
of Karnataka. Although it is grown elsewhere in India too, Karnataka takes the
richest share of it. The western ghats is conducive home to it. In that also
specially in our Shivamogga region, Madikeri and Mysore regions, it is grown
naturally in the forests. It is the highest priced wood. So it is highly
vulnerable for smuggling. The forest brigands are usually after it. The forest
department has special watch on it if it is found anywhere. Every one of such
tree is a National treasure; it doesn’t belong to you even if it is in your
garden.It belongs to the state. It gives its unique fragrance only after it ages more than 75 years.
Till then it is just a tree.
Once it used to be in abundance in our forests are now extremely rare
to find. The story of Sandalwood traces the human behavior and the decline of
humanity. Lets turn a few pages of our history.
The Golden Age of India
During the Golden age of India, the Rajahs used to give lot of
importance to art and craft. The sandal wood is one of the favorites for the
craftsmen to produce some of their finest arts.
The crafts men had free access to the forests where these trees were
naturally grown. Gudigars are one such community who carried out this artistry
as family profession for hundreds (may be thousands) of years. They sculpted Krishna,
Geethopadesha, Dashavatara, Ganesha and all Hindu deities. They produced the
crafted idols for the temples, chariots, houses & for the palaces. The Rajah
used to support by purchasing the best and costliest product. It used to be a
symbol of the richness of the region.
Another important use of sandal wood was of sandal paste. Even today,
in the temples and orthodox Brahmin houses, the sandal paste is produced manually
by grinding the wood on a small granite slab (saane kallu in Kannada). This
is then applied onto the temple deity as Alankara. After it is taken out
from the idol, it is applied as Naama or Mudra on our body. It
gives a cooling sensation & soothing fragrance through the day.
All ways of utilizing the Sandalwood was manual. Hence it was not
getting overly chopped, hoarded or consumed madly. So the forest richness was
managed locally by the local communities by forming guilds & some rules of self-governance.
There was not much smuggling recorded in the history.
The British loot
The British famously destroyed the Indian independence by killing its
indigenous industries. All our industries were cottage industries and family
based. Each family working in a profession had 3 main things:
-
Easy and free access to the raw material
-
Full freedom to produce artistic, family/
community/ region specific unique products
-
Encouraging friendly local markets; Travelling
merchants to take the ‘excess produce’ across oceans and continents through
their established silk route
The British when they took over governing India, systematically killed
all industries by attacking these 3 main points of freedom.
For example, in the case of textile industries -
-
They denied access to the finest cotton &
Indigo grown here to the local weavers by exporting them
-
They levied heavy taxes on the weavers to make
their produce costly & uncompetitive
-
They denied market access by dumping in foreign
cheap clothes manufactured in the mechanized factories.
The steel industry was also a cottage industry with each family
running kilns producing finest quality steel ingots. Hundreds of villages &
thousands of houses in the Chirtradurga, Bellary, Raichur region had family run
kilns. Richard Buchanan during his survey in 1800s has recorded the finest
quality of Iron & steel produced in this region in large quantity utilized
for Swords, spears & other war materials, and also agricultural tools. This was also systematically destroyed by the
British following similar means:
-
They denied access to the forests and hills to
the nearby villagers; While they looted mining it indiscriminately
-
They levied heavy taxes on each family kilns
making their produce uncompetitive
-
They denied market access by dumping in the
foreign steel manufactured in their mechanized factories.
British eyed on the sandal wood along with other richness of the
western ghats. They found its unique fragrance very appealing. They put their
science of destruction to innovate oil extraction from the sandal wood. The oil
thus extracted was used in making scent and was used in the beauty industry.
But for producing a small 100ml bottle of scent almost a full grown
tree has to be sacrificed. Thus the massive loot started.
Indian Forest Department
Most of us know Indian forest department is for managing and protecting
the Indian forests. But do you know, it started as a department by the British
to plunder the Indian forests systematically? The government being the
custodian of the nation’s natural resources created this department. Its
primary purpose was to extract the forest produce, measure it & transport
it.
For that it measured the forest area, marked it out and kept the public
out of it. The tribals were driven out. Their uprising was quelled without
mercy.
Lets come back to our Sandalwood story. Essentially our craftsmen,
families, communities who were wholly dependent on this important forest produce
were denied rights. They were denied access to it. So again the 3 principles
applied
-
No access to the raw materials
-
Heavy taxation on their produce
-
No Market. The Rajahs were dethroned. Silk route
and all trades, trade routes were cut off; locals were impoverished. Temples were
denuded.
So where would these communities go? Rajah is the Praja Palaka.
So they went to the British Raj. The Brits essentially in the forest department
had 3 types of jobs –
1.
Wood cutter
2.
Wood transporter
3.
Accountant
These craftsmen had reverence to these wood as their GOD only. They couldn’t
think of indiscriminately cutting and transporting their gods!! And counting
the loot was even worse. So they left their family profession & joined the
destitute population of the British Raj.
Today’s situation
Today the situation is not entirely different.
The forest is still in Government hands. Government is not exactly looting
but is not preventing the loot by miners, brigands etc.,
Hardly any raw material for the craftsmen available.
The main market being temples and Rajah. Both are Government only. And
Government still is looting temples & not giving anything back;
There are few artisans surviving still on this. They have to work for
Government emporiums only if they have to produce anything from Sandalwood. Individual
buyers have to buy through controlled emporiums run by the Government.
We cannot expect the glorious past. If we leave the forests so open as
it used to be, nothing will remain.
One simple thing is at least to put the uniqueness of the Indian flora
and fauna in primary education. So that some patriotism and pride in children
about our nation can be developed. This is my sincere hope.
Recently my 5th standard son was mugging up the flora &
fauna of Democratic Republic of Congo with much difficulty. I don’t know what
to do. He has to score marks. So I left him & told him this story outside
it.
So the whatsapp, facebook and blogs are more educative these days. Formal
education is crass. That’s a pity.
Swami Vivekananda had told way back – The British education is but a lump
of information. Not any bit useful for Man Making Mission.
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