Neelakurinji ,This legendary flower blooms
once in 12years.
Neelakurinji
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The Muduvar tribe, which inhabit the mountain ranges
around Valparai(Tamilnadu)
and Munnar (Kerala) in the Western Ghats, calculates its age with
blossoming of the Kurinji. Neelakurinji ,This legendary
flower blooms once in 12years and is due to enliven the mountain
scapes, once again in the coming year.2006
In the Western Ghats, at an altitude of about 1,600 metres, in the
region of shoals and grasslands, the kurinji flourishes as a gregarious
shrub. From the High Ranges to the Sayadhri Mountains, different
varieties of the Kurinji flourish in valleys,
in slopes and in gorges. All of them have a periodicity from eight
to 12 years. After blossoming, the plant wilts. Though most of the
varieties are blue, tjere are some yellow varieties too.
Geogaphers refer to the ranges south of the Palghat Gap as the Palni
ranges and those to the north as the Nilgiris. In the Palni ranges,
in Mattupatti and Gundumalai aroud Munnar, the Kurinji grows in
abundance. In the area around Anaimudi also the
plant thrives. Anaimudi(in Kerala) or the
Elephant Peak is the highest point in South India,
being several metres higher than the better-known Doddabetta near
Ooty. And the area around it is now called and Eravikulam sanctuaty.
The Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary (in Coimbatore district of
Tamil Nadu) is contiguous to this sanctuary.
Documentation
Though this flower has been a familiar subject for poets and for
the hill folk, in modern times, two British botanists who explored
the Palni ranges-Robert Wight in 1836 and Capt. Beddome in 1857
- documented the details and let the wider world get to know about
this plant. The Kurinji found in the Palni and the Nilgiri ranges
has been christened Strobulanthus kuntianum. The Catholic clergy
in the Shenbaganur seminary in Kodaikanal kept careful notes of
the flowering of the Kurinji.
In the Nilgiris, it was only from 1858
that we have records of the years of the plant’s blossoming.
A resident of Kotagiri, Mr. Cockburne had details of those years.
His father was a pioneer settler in the Nilgiris and his mother
(Cockburne’s grandmother) had talked to the Kotas and Todas
and had written down data on Kurinji. Thus data from three generations
is available. Around the Nilgiris, this flower is called Nilakurinji
and is abundant in the Mukurthi sanctuary. In recent years, the
Pondicherry-based Salim Ali School of Ecology has been studying
the blossoming of the Kurinji.
In Tamil Sangam poems there are quite a few references to this flower.
In works such as Agananurum and Maduraijanchi, the plant is referred
as “Karungal Kurinji”, meaning
the Black stemmed flower. When it is in bloom, the honey gathered
from the beehives in the vicinity was valued highly. One poet praises
a king as “the one who rules over a country where the Kurinji
honey is in plenty”.
Symbol of hills, forests
The Sangam groups of literary works divide the landscape into five
categories. The mountainous area was known as Kurinji, after the
flower. Murugan, the god fo the Kurinji area, wore a garland of
Kurinji flowers when he married the tribal girl Valli. This blue
flower that blossoms stands as a symbol of hills and forests. The
other forms of landscape described are mullai(jasmine)which stands
for forests, marudam(a tree)which stands for pastoral area, Neythal
(an aquatic flower)which denotes costal area and Palai(a tree)which
represents arid area.
In poetic works, each of this form of landscape stands for an emotion
or a state of mind. The Kurinji symbolizes clandestine love or premarital
romance. At least one literary work. Ainkurunooru has 100 poems
dedicated to each of these forms of landscapes.
The home of the Kurinji, which had remained inviolate for millennia,
was damaged beyond repair in the last 100 years. Range after range
of pristine forests was cleared for tea and cardamom platations
and for timber. To promote the leather-tanning industry, wattle
was plated in the heart of Kurinji country. Eucalyptus was grown
to supply raw material for rayon and paper. Trees totally alien
to this land were brought in and introduced, devastating the ecosystem.
Hydroeslectric projects submerged vast stretches of virgin rain
forests. Now in the little space that is left, in step valleys and
gorges, the Kurinji bushes are battling for survival, like many
other life forms of the area. ‘Save Kurinji’ campaign
In the last few years, in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, there have been
efforts from different quartersto save what is left of the Kurinji’s
home. The “Save Kurinji Campaign Council” (SAKCIL),
founded by Rajkumar, a bank employee, is active in Thiruvananthapuram,
Kerala.
The High Range Wildlife Association, led by a former planter Chengappa
and The Palni Hills Conservation Council based in Kodaikanal have
been campaigning too. The late taxonomist Dr. P.K. Mathew of the
Society of Jesus, Tiruchirapalli, headed a committee of the PHCC
to draw up plans for the Kurinji’s conservation.
The Kurinji’scampaigners conduct and annual padayatra from
Kodaikanal (Tamil Nadu) to Munnar (Kerala). The aim is to declare
the 95sq.km expanse between Kodaikanal and Munnar, at a heigh of
1,600m, as a Kurinji sanctuary.
As a part of these efforts, Chennai based plant artist O.T.Ravindran
has been pleading for a stamp on the Kurinji to be released. He
sent a proposal to the Ministry of Communications for a stamp on
the Kurinji, along with one of his famous paintings of the Kurinji
plant, when in bloom.
The campaigners point out that we are dealing with more than just
pretty scenery. The Kurinji has become a symbol for the bio-diversity
of the Western Ghats, which has been declared one of the 18 “Hotspots”
of the world. And it is in Kurinji land that both the Vaigai and
the Amaravathi rivers originate.
Hence the plea to ptotect it.
Festivals
: Kerala is a land
of colourful festivals, which have a long history and tradition behind them.
Kerala's innumerable festivals however stand out because of their uniqueness.
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